Tazewell County Man Sentenced to More Than 13 Years in Prison for Using Facebook to Solicit, Receive Child Pornography

PEORIA, Ill. – A Tazewell county man, Eric Ingram, 31, of Washington, Ill., was sentenced today to more than 13 years (160 months) in prison for receiving child pornography using Facebook.  In sentencing Ingram, U.S. District Judge Michael M. Mihm also ordered that Ingram remain on supervised release for eight years following his release from incarceration. Ingram will be required to register as a sex offender.

On Dec. 4, 2018, Ingram pleaded guilty to the charge. According to court documents, on Oct. 4, 2018, law enforcement officers with the Washington Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant at Ingram’s residence in Washington, Ill., and seized various items of electronic media.

According to court records, in September 2018, Facebook, Inc. notified Washington Police Department officials of messages between Ingram and a 15-year-old minor child that contained sexually explicit conduct. Facebook provided information that Ingram appeared to be soliciting the content from the minor victim. Furthermore, it appeared that Ingram lived in close proximity to the minor victim and had used Facebook Messenger to discuss meeting the minor in person. The minor victim was interviewed and confirmed that Ingram requested she perform sexually explicit conduct and take visual depictions of that conduct to send to him on Facebook.

Ingram has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest on these charges on Oct. 4, 2018.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Legge prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Washington Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations.

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.