Man sentenced in child porn case

A 40-year-old Scottsburg man who recently pleaded guilty to three counts of the production of child pornography received a 75-year prison term Monday in federal court in New Albany.

According to a press release from the office of U.S. District Attorney Timothy M. Morrison with the Southern District of Indiana, U.S. District Chief Judge David F. Hamilton imposed that sentence on Mark Armstrong.

The investigation that led to the sentence begin on March 9, 2009, in South Africa after investigators in that country met with a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The ICE agent was told a child pornography investigation in South Africa had led to the discovery of three individuals, including one thought to be living in the United States, exchanging e-mails containing images of children engaged in sexually explicit behavior with adults.

The individual thought to be living in the United States was later identified as Armstrong, and information about the case was then forwarded to ICE’s Cyber Crime Center.

On April 2, a search warrant was served at Armstrong’s residence in Scottsburg.

Investigators said Armstrong admitted that day that he had been molesting a boy younger than 12 and had produced and disseminated images of that conduct including images of sexual acts and conduct. He also admitted that he had produced sexually explicit images of a male relative that was younger than 12 years old.

Armstrong told investigators he produced about 50 images of the boys and sent them to South Africa and Mexico.

Armstrong was arrested April 2 and has remained in federal custody pending the outcome of his case.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Brant Cook, who prosecuted the case, Hamilton also imposed a lifetime supervised release following Armstrong’s completion of his prison sentence. However, because federal prisoners only receive 60 days of “good-time” credit each year, Armstrong will not be eligible for release for more than 62 years.

During any period of supervised release, Armstrong must register as a sexual offender for life, must participate in sex offender counseling and may not have any unsupervised contact with any minor child, among other conditions. Armstrong also was fined $25,000.

Other agencies involved in the investigation besides ICE included Fishers (Indiana) Police Department, Indiana State Police, the Hamilton County (Indiana) Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.