FRESNO, Calif. — United States District Judge Dale A. Drozd sentenced Shane Paul Young, 45, of Fresno, on Monday to 30 years in federal prison for receipt and distribution of child pornography, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.
On January 22, 2016, after a three–day trial, a federal jury returned a guilty verdict. According to evidence presented at trial, federal investigators in Fresno received a lead regarding an email address in Fresno that was distributing child pornography. Investigators determined that Young was the user of that Fresno email account. The evidence showed that Young sent and received hundreds of videos and images containing child pornography over the Internet with users across Europe and North America. The child pornography that Young received and distributed was not only voluminous, but also included graphic images of infants and toddlers being sexually abused. Both the nature of Young’s offense and his significant prior criminal history factored into the sentence that was imposed.
This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department, the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, and the Fresno Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force. ICAC is a federally and state-funded task force with agents from federal, state, and local agencies. The Fresno ICAC investigates online child exploitation crimes, including child pornography, enticement, and sex trafficking. Assistant United States Attorneys Mark J. McKeon and Jeffrey A. Spivak prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as 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. . Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “resources” tab for information about Internet safety education.