James L. Porter, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on February 12, 2016, Richard Lee Doerr, III, 28, East Carondelet, IL, was arraigned on a five-count Indictment charging him, in Count 1, with Distribution of Child Pornography, in Counts 2-4, with Receipt of Child Pornography, and, in Count 5, with Possession of Prepubescent Child Pornography. Doerr was ordered detained, that is, held without bond, after a detention hearing today.
Count 1 alleges that, on or about December 27, 2013, Doerr knowingly distributed at least four visual depictions of child pornography, as described in the Indictment. Counts 2 through 4 allege that, on July 11, August 31, and September 1, 2014, respectively, Doerr knowingly received at least seven (7) visual depictions of child pornography, as described in the Indictment. Finally, Count 5 alleges that, on or about October 2, 2014, Doerr knowingly possessed material that contained child pornography that involved prepubescent minors or minors who had not attained 12 years of age, as described in the Indictment.
Trial is scheduled for April 4, 2016, in East St. Louis, Illinois. The penalty for Distribution and Receipt of Child Pornography is a term of imprisonment of not less than five (5) 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 (5) years to life. The penalty for Possession of Prepubescent Child Pornography is a term of imprisonment of not more than twenty (20) years, a fine up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not less than five (5) 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation's Springfield Child Exploitation Task Force. The case is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Angela Scott.