Former Air Station Employee Sentenced to over Four Years in Prison for Possessing Child Pornography
Reno, Nev. – A former security guard at Fallon Naval Air Station has been sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for his guilty plea to possession of child pornography, announced Greg Brower, U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada.
Steven Lee Jenkins, 57, of Fallon, Nevada, was sentenced on February 4, 2009, by U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval. Judge Sandoval recommended that Jenkins be placed in a sex offender treatment program during incarceration and ordered lifetime supervision by a federal probation officer. Jenkins was charged by the Federal Grand Jury in Reno in June 2008 with one count of possession of child pornography and pleaded guilty to the charge on September 2, 2008.
"Between 2002 and 2008, over 200 individuals have been charged and convicted in Nevada with federal child sexual exploitation offenses," said U.S. Attorney Brower. "Prosecuting child predators remains a priority for the U.S. Department of Justice in Nevada."
Jenkins became a suspect when an undercover operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents connected the defendant to financial transactions on an internet child pornography site. During the investigation, Jenkins was contacted by ICE agents and allowed his computer to be searched. Jenkins voluntarily turned on his computer and showed agents where he had stored child pornography files. The computer was seized and examined by a forensic analyst who determined that the computer contained numerous individual images of child pornography and video clips of child pornography. These images included images of children under the age of 12.
Jenkins is currently released on a personal recognizance bond and was allowed to self-report to federal prison by April 1, 2009.
This case was investigated by U.S. ICE and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ronald C. Rachow. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
