A 29-year-old Oroville man, Jason Sebastian Sparks, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for receiving child pornography from the dark web.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said, ‘This sentence sends a strong message to those who try to remain anonymous while committing child exploitation crimes on the Internet that no matter what techniques they use, they risk being caught and prosecuted.’
The case against Sparks arose from an FBI undercover investigation into Playpen, a highly sophisticated, hidden website dedicated to the advertisement and distribution of child pornography that operated on the Tor network from August 2014 until March 2015.
According to court documents, Sparks accessed Playpen for approximately three hours and 13 minutes over a two-day period in March 2015, and investigators subsequently searched his residence and seized a computer that Sparks used to download child pornography from the Tor network.
In a statement to investigators, Sparks admitted to accessing Playpen and to using the Tor network to download child pornography. He also admitted that he had previously sexually abused an approximately six-year-old child on five occasions.
As part of the investigation, at least 350 U.S.-based individuals have been arrested nationwide, 25 producers of child pornography have been prosecuted, 51 alleged hands-on abusers have been prosecuted and 55 American children who were subjected to sexual abuse have been identified or rescued.
The case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with Assistant United States Attorney Shelley Weger prosecuting the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
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Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Sex Crimes|Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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