NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD

BLUE SPRINGS MAN SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS

FOR CHILD PORN

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Blue Springs, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and attempting to distribute child pornography over the Internet.

            Matthew William Lane, 33, of Blue Springs, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey this morning to 12 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Lane to pay $5,000 in restitution to the victims.

            On Nov. 10, 2009, Lane pleaded guilty to attempting to distribute child pornography over the Internet, receiving child pornography over the Internet and possessing child pornography.

            Lane admitted that he used peer-to-peer file-sharing software to download child pornography movies over the Internet, and that he used the software to allow others to download movies from his computer. Investigators found hundreds of movies and images of child pornography on two computers and a thumb drive that were seized from Lane.

            This case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips. It was investigated by the Blue Springs, Mo., Police Department.

Project Safe Childhood

            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.

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This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at

http://www.justice.gov../index.html