Christopher Golden, Receipt and Possession of Child Pornography, South Dakota 2021

A Rapid City, South Dakota man has been convicted of Receipt of Child Pornography and Possession of Child Pornography, a crime that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years up to 20 years in federal prison and/or a $250,000 fine.

Christopher Golden, age 50, was found guilty in a federal court trial in Rapid City on January 21, 2021. The convictions also include up to life of supervised release, a $5,000 special assessment to the Victims of Trafficking Fund, a $200 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund, and restitution.

Evidence at trial established that Golden knowingly received and possessed sexually explicit images of minor females between June 2014 and September 2018.

Golden was arrested in Rapid City in 2018 on a Colorado fugitive warrant for sexual exploitation of a child. At the time of his arrest, Golden had five devices containing child pornography and multiple devices on which he had installed data shredding applications and other anonymizing software.

The investigation was conducted by the South Dakota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, the Meade County Sheriff’s Office, and members of the Black Hills Fugitive Task Force.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Sazama prosecuted and tried the case. Golden was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending sentencing.

A sentencing date will be scheduled, although no specific date was released. The total amount of restitution and special assessments was not disclosed.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sd/pr/box-elder-man-found-guilty-receipt-and-possession-child-pornography