Largo Man Guilty of Accessing Child Pornography

Tampa, FL – A federal jury has found Eric Thomas, 37, of Largo, Florida, guilty of accessing child pornography on the internet.

According to the testimony and evidence presented at trial, on July 21, 2012, Thomas’s then-wife discovered evidence that Thomas had been looking at child pornography on the internet using the couple’s home computer.

A forensic review revealed that more than 850 images of child pornography had been deleted from the computer. Thomas had taken considerable steps to conceal his activities by removing the internet history and the child pornography files from his computer.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Largo Police Department, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jennifer L. Peresie and Josephine W. Thomas.

This case is another example of the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and it is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the government to combat this issue.

Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. Thomas faces a maximum penalty of ten years in federal prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 18, 2014. He is currently being held in the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending sentencing.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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