Illinois - Two Springfield men face child porn charges
From Sjr.com.By Chris Dentro, Staff Writer. 06/07/07
Four central Illinois men, including two from Springfield, were indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on unrelated child pornography charges. John William Peter, 35, of the 2600 block of South Ninth Street and Randall Foster, 52, of the 400 block of East Jefferson Street each are charged with receiving and possessing child pornography via the Internet. The indictment against Peter alleges he used software that links together computers through the Internet, allowing network users to share digital files. From about October 2006 to March 20, Peter allegedly possessed child porn that he received via computer using peer-to-peer software. The indictment also charges Foster with receiving and possessing child porn via computer using the peer-to-peer software from March 2005 to March 16.
Both men will be issued a summons to appear in U.S. District Court in Springfield at a date to be determined. The charges against Peter and Foster are the result of investigations conducted by Immigrations and Customs Enforceent and the FBI - agencies participating in the Springfield Computer Crimes Task Force. The multi-agency task force is dedicated to the investigation and prosecution of computer crime. Assistant U.S. attorney John Childress is prosecuting both cases as part of the U.S. Justice Department's Project Safe Childhood.
The same grand jury also returned separate, unrelated indictments charging Randy Maulding, 43, of Tuscola, and Joseph Canfield, 23, of Mattoon, with possession of child pornography. Receiving child pornography is punishable by a mandatory minimum five years in prison up to 20 years in prison. For possession of child pornography, the penalty is up to 10 years in prison. Fines also are a possibility should the men be convicted.
Chris Dettro can be reached at 788-1510 or chris.dettro@sj-r.com.
Retrieved June 14, 2007 from http://www.sj-r.com/sections/news/stories/116201.asp#