Urbana, Ill. – Chief U.S. District Judge Michael P. McCuskey today sentenced David Eugene Stevens, 36, of Ashmore, Illinois, to serve 262 months (21 years, 10 months) in federal prison for child pornography offenses. Stevens was also ordered to remain on supervised release for the remainder of his life upon release from prison.

A grand jury indicted Stevens on Oct. 7, 2009, on charges of receipt, distribution and possession of child pornography. On Aug. 6, 2010, Stevens pled guilty to the indictment. Stevens admitted that he used a computer file-sharing program to download and share images of child pornography. Forensic analysis of Stevens’ computer revealed 41 videos containing child pornography and 33 images of child pornography on his computer, received from June 2008 through October 2008. Stevens has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest on Oct. 9, 2009.

The charges against Stevens were investigated by a working group of law enforcement officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Illinois Attorney General’s Office; Decatur Police Department; the Coles County Sheriff’s Department; and the Mattoon Police Department.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.