South Dakota Man to Serve 22 ½ Years in Federal Prison for Sexual Exploitation of Champaign Minor

Urbana, Ill. – In federal court today, U.S. District Judge Colin S. Bruce ordered a South Dakota man to serve 22 ½ years (270 months) in federal prison for blackmailing a minor female to send him nude photographs of herself. Austin A. Burns, 21, of Huron, S.D., was ordered to serve five years supervised release following completion of his prison sentence.  Burns will be required to register as a sex offender.

On Sept. 21, 2015, Burns pled guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor. Burns admitted that soon after he began communicating online with a minor female, in 2014, she told him that she was 13 years old. Burns admitted that he demanded the girl send him naked photographs of herself and threatened that if she did not comply, he would post naked photographs of her online.

Burns has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since he was arrested on Aug. 14, 2014, in Huron, S.D.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elly M. Peirson prosecuted the case.  The Champaign Police Department, the Huron, S.D. Police Department, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case.

The 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.