Possession of child pornography sends Missoula man to prison

MISSOULA — A Missoula man who admitted to having child pornography on his mobile phone was sentenced today to six years in prison, to be followed by seven years of supervised release, Acting U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson said.

Aaron Charles Fritsch, 50, pleaded guilty in July to possession of child pornography.

U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided.

In court documents filed by the government, in June 2020, the Montana Department of Corrections’ Probation and Parole Division was supervising Fritsch when his probation officers conducted a home visit. The probation officers saw evidence indicating that Fritsch was violating his probation conditions. Fritsch consented to a search of his mobile phone. Officers saw several images of nude children and contacted Homeland Security Investigations. Fritsch admitted to investigators that they would find child pornography on his phone. A search of his phone found almost 200 images of child pornography.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee L. Peterson prosecuted the case, which was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and Montana’s Probation and Parole Division.

This case was initiated under the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative, which was launched in 2006 to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. Through a network of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and advocacy organizations, Project Safe Childhood attempts to protect children by investigating and prosecuting offenders involved in child sexual exploitation. It is implemented through partnerships including the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The ICAC Task Force Program was created to assist state and local law enforcement agencies by enhancing their investigative response to technology facilitated crimes against children.

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