Houlton Man Sentenced on Child Pornography Charge

Bangor, Maine:  Houlton man was sentenced today in Bangor for possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced.

U.S. District Court Judge Jon D. Levy sentenced Larry O’Neal, 46, to 51 months in prison followed by seven years of supervised release.  O’Neal was found guilty on April 26, 2019 following a four-day jury trial.

Court records and trial evidence revealed that O’Neal was found with images of child pornography on his computer in January 2018, when law enforcement executed a search warrant at his home.  Agents began investigating O’Neal after his computer was observed on a peer-to-peer file sharing network as having files associated with child pornography. 

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Professional Responsibility, the Customs and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility, and the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit. 

This case 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. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.