Josef David Williams Pleads Guilty in U.S. Federal Court
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Great Falls on November 10, 2009, before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon, JOSEF DAVID WILLIAMS, a 26-year-old resident of Greeley, Colorado, pled guilty to possession of child pornography. Sentencing is set for February 8, 2010. He is currently detained.
In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee L. Peterson, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents determined that an IP address had child pornography files available for download between March 13 and March 17, 2008. Agents determined the IP address subscriber resided in Great Falls. When they interviewed the female at the residence tied to the IP address, she indicated WILLIAMS was in the U.S. Army and had been on leave from Iraq during that time frame and staying at her home. She said he used his own laptop to download music via the Internet and Limewire to be transferred to his iPod.
An ICE agent contacted the U.S. Army, and the Army confiscated WILLIAMS' laptop, iPod and one external harddrive in Iraq. The Army CID laboratory examined the items and discovered child pornography on WILLIAMS' laptop. Approximately 140 image files and one movie file portraying children posed in a lewd or lascivious manner or engaged in sexual activity were located.
Remnants of the Limewire file sharing program were located on the laptop. Incomplete download log entries of file names indicative of child pornography were located. The Internet Explorer history on the laptop was also examined and disclosed filepaths and websites with names indicative of one searching for child pornography. The iTunes music library also listed files names indicative of child pornography files.
During an interview in July 2008, WILLIAMS admitted he utilized Limewire in March 2008 while visiting his wife and mother-in-law.
WILLIAMS faces possible penalties of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervision.
The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A copy of the Offer of Proof can be obtained by contacting Sally Frank at (406) 247-4638.
