FRESNO, Calif. — An Oklahoma man has been sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in prison for his role in distributing child sex abuse material. Austen Peppers, 36, of Lawton, Oklahoma, was found guilty of advertising and distributing images of minors being sexually abused.
Peppers was also ordered to pay restitution to 19 victims totaling $57,000. He conducted transactions on the dark web using cryptocurrency, and engaged in sexually explicit communications with individuals he believed to be minors.
According to court documents, Peppers amassed thousands of images and videos of children being sexually abused. He sold and offered to sell these images between March 2018 and August 2019.
The case was the product of an investigation by the Homeland Security Investigations offices in Fresno, Chicago, and Oklahoma, as well as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Tactical Team.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gappa and Trial Attorney James Burke IV of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section prosecuted the case.
Peppers has been in custody since his initial appearance in this case on November 14, 2019.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
The sentencing hearing took place on an unspecified date in 2022.
Related Federal Cases
- Austen Peppers, Advertising and Distributing Child Pornography, California 2023 · Oklahoma
- David Brent Timberlake, Child Sexual Abuse Material Production, Virginia 2023 · Oklahoma
- Robert Jonathan De Oliveira Ricci, Transporting Child Abuse Material, Florida 2025 · Oklahoma
- Corey Allan Pickup, Jr., Child Abuse, Oklahoma 2018 · Oklahoma
- Timothy Ray Cannon, Sex Offender Registration Failure, California 2023 · Oklahoma
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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