Stephen Christopher Young, Receipt of Child Pornography, Florida 2024

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Gainesville Man Sentenced to 121 Months for Receipt of Child Pornography

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA – A local man has been sentenced to 121 months in prison for receiving and attempting to receive child pornography.

Stephen Christopher Young, 58, of Gainesville, Florida, received the sentence from Michelle Spaven, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

According to the investigation, in March 2024, investigators executed a federal search warrant at Young’s residence and discovered that he had been exchanging child pornography with others using various applications intended to avoid detection by using end-to-end encryption.

Young will be required to serve a lifetime of supervised release, pay $20,500 in restitution, register as a sex offender, and be subject to all sex offender conditions.

The case was investigated by the Internet Crime Against Children Task Force Gainesville Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Meredith Steer and Adam Hapner prosecuted the case.

‘Crimes against children are unacceptable,’ said Acting U.S. Attorney Spaven. ‘Those who seek to view and maintain child pornography facilitate the abuse of children by those who produce and profit from this illegal content. We will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to ensure that we aggressively prosecute these offenders.’

This case is another example of the FBI’s relentless commitment to protecting children by removing predators from our community,’ said Jason Carley, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jacksonville. ‘Let this be a lesson to others who prey on vulnerable kids; the FBI and our partners will never stop working to identify, pursue, and hold child predators accountable.’

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.