Logan County Sex Offender to Serve 25 Years in Federal Prison

Springfield, Ill.  – U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough today sentenced Ronald L. Collins, 56, a sex offender, to a term of 300 months (25 years) in federal prison for receiving images of child pornography. Judge Myerscough further ordered that Collins, of Lincoln, Ill., pay a fine of $5,000., and upon completion of his 25-year sentence, to remain on supervised release for life.

Collins pled guilty in January to receiving images of child pornography on his cell phone from June 2013 to May 2014. At the time Collins committed the offense, he had a prior felony conviction for aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Montgomery County, Ill.

The charge was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations and the Lincoln Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Childress.

Collins has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since he was charged by federal indictment in September 2014.  He was previously in the custody of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office.

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 U.S. 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.