Heyburn Man Pleads Guilty to Possessing Sexually Explicit Images of Minors

POCATELLO - John R. Godfrey, 52, of Heyburn, Idaho, pleaded guilty to possession of sexually explicit images of minors, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced today. Godfrey was indicted by a Pocatello federal grand jury on February 26, 2019.

According to court records, in April 2018, detectives with the Idaho Internet Crimes against Children (ICAC) Task Force interviewed Godfrey after receiving a cyber tip that he was in possession of child pornography. Godfrey admitted to receiving child pornography images and videos from other individuals in online chat groups. Godfrey also admitted that he possessed images of child pornography on his cell phone of children aged 9 to 11 years old. Investigators later searched Godfrey’s cell phone and a forensic analysis found the multiple images he admitted to possessing.

The charge of possession of sexually explicit images of minors is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and a term of supervised release of 5 years to life.

Sentencing is set for April 20, 2020, before Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

This case was investigated by the Idaho Internet Crimes against Children Task Force, with the assistance of Heyburn Police Department, and was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. As part of Project Safe Childhood, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office partner to marshal federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.

For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

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