Steven D. Blosser, 40, of Columbia, IL, was arraigned on February 24, 2017 on federal indictment charging him with receipt of child pornography, Donald S. Boyce, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today.
The indictment alleges that, from on or about September 16, 2015, until on or about February 19, 2016, Blosser knowingly received child pornography, to include four image files listed in the indictment.
Trial is scheduled for May 1, 2015. The penalty for Receipt of Child Pornography is a term of imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than twenty 20 years, a fine up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not less than five years to life.
An indictment is merely the method by which federal charges are lodged. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 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 individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit
www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."
The case was investigated by the Columbia, Illinois, Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Springfield Child Exploitation Task Force. The case is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Angela Scott.