William Stewart, Child Pornography Possession, Maine 2018

Bangor, Maine: A Waterville man was sentenced today in federal court in Bangor for possessing child pornography, U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced.

U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. sentenced William Stewart, 64, to 80 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release. Stewart was also ordered to pay $63,000 in restitution. He pleaded guilty on April 19, 2019.

According to court records, in May and June 2018, Stewart possessed thousands of images and hundreds of videos of child pornography that he had received over the internet. Many of the images and videos depicted prepubescent children under 12 years old. Law enforcement officers discovered the child pornography when they executed a search warrant at Stewart’s home on June 28, 2018.

In imposing sentence, Judge Woodcock described the statements made by the victims of Stewart’s offense as “heartbreaking,” and told Stewart that what he had done was “just abhorrent.”

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit and the Waterville Police Department. The prosecution was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The sentence imposed by Judge Woodcock underscores the severity of the offense and the importance of holding perpetrators accountable for their crimes. The case serves as a reminder that law enforcement agencies will continue to work tirelessly to protect children from exploitation and abuse.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-me/pr/waterville-man-sentenced-possessing-child-pornography