Miles Edward Bessman, Child Pornography, Montana 2023

BILLINGS, MONTANA – A Billings man who admitted to possessing hundreds of child pornography images was sentenced to five years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

Miles Edward Bessman, 49, pleaded guilty in July to possession of child pornography as charged in an indictment.

On January 2020, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on Bessman’s residence, collected electronic media and found files containing child pornography on his cell phone.

The government alleged in court documents that an investigation of Bessman began in 2019 after law enforcement received two Cybertips indicating that a certain IP address had uploaded child pornography to Google. Investigators determined that the IP address was located at Bessman’s residence and executed a search warrant for Bessman’s Google account. A review of material collected from Bessman’s account found more than 800 images of child pornography. The material included videos and images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zeno B. Baucus and Benjamin D. Hargrove prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI, the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation and the Billings Police Department.

Bessman was also ordered to pay $18,000 restitution to his victims. This case was initiated under the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative, which was launched in 2006 to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children.

The Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was involved in the investigation. The ICAC Task Force Program was created to assist state and local law enforcement agencies by enhancing their investigative response to technology facilitated crimes against children.

Mandatory Facts: Defendant: Miles Edward Bessman, Exact Criminal Charge: possession of child pornography, City and State: Billings, Montana, Exact Date: January 2020, Sentence: five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release, Dollar Amounts: $18,000 restitution.