John William McMahon, Distribution of Child Pornography, New Hampshire 2018

A Hampton man has been sentenced to 84 months in federal prison for distributing child pornography.

John William McMahon, 30, of Hampton, was sentenced on Wednesday to 84 months in federal prison for distribution of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Scott W. Murray announced today.

According to court documents and statements made in court, during an ongoing undercover investigation, a member of the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force accessed a peer-to-peer network to identify users who may be sharing images of child pornography.

On various dates between December 14, 2017, and January 2, 2018, law enforcement officers conducted single-source downloads of child pornography from a certain I.P. address. Agents identified the address used to distribute child pornography images during the undercover sessions.

Through their investigation, agents identified McMahon as the person responsible for distributing child pornography images during the undercover sessions. In a consensual interview, the defendant admitted accessing wireless internet belonging to a neighboring apartment, and he further admitted downloading child pornography.

Investigators later obtained a search warrant for McMahon’s laptop and other electronic media recovered from him. Subsequent forensic examination revealed approximately 1,410 images of suspected child pornography on McMahon’s laptop. The child pornography images and videos were sent to the National Center for Mission and Exploited Children, which confirmed that 500 still images and 6 videos were of identified child victims.

“Crimes involving child pornography and child exploitation cause great harm to their very vulnerable young victims,” said U.S. Attorney Murray. “In order to protect innocent children, we will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to identify and prosecute those who distribute child pornography.”

This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, Boston and the New Hampshire ICAC Task Force. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cam Le.

In February 2006, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices introduced Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nh/pr/hampton-man-sentenced-84-months-distribution-child-pornography