FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, August 30, 2007
KELLY RUTH MORTENSON SENTENCED IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Great Falls, on August 30, 2007, before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon, KELLY RUTH MORTENSON, a 22-year-old resident of Great Falls, appeared for sentencing. MORTENSON was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 120 months
- Special Assessment: $100
- Supervised Release: 5 years
MORTENSON was sentenced after having been found guilty during a 4-day trial of possession of child pornography.
At trial, the government presented evidence of the following:
On December 29, 2005, a Great Falls Police officer was dispatched to the Mortenson residence regarding a disturbance. KELLY MORTENSON and another individual were located outside the residence where the other individual provided the officer with binders of pictures of children in various states of undress or in undergarments.
The Mortensons appeared to be in a dispute over the custody of their children. The officer spoke with Shaun Mortenson in the family's residence, the condition of which did not appear suitable for young children. While in the apartment, the officer observed framed collages of various undergarments that appeared to be of women and children's sizes, with photographs of KELLY and writings to include references to child pornography.
Shaun admitted to the officer that he had a problem with child pornography and stated that his wife had taken some of that with her. The officer received other three ring binders from KELLY and the other individual that contained child pornography.
Shaun admitted that his wife had taken some of his child pornography collection with her during the custody dispute. He also admitted receiving and possessing child pornography via the Internet. He reported that he used the child pornography in an attempt to get over the urge for young girls. Shaun also admitted that his wife wrote out child pornography stories for him as well. He further admitted that he and his wife had acted out some of those fantasies.
When questioned, KELLY first claimed that she had just located the child pornography at her apartment when stopping to get her children. She admitted that she took the binders that had been given to the police. She also admitted that she hadn't given all of them to the officers at the apartment however, and that the other individual gave the rest of them to the officers while KELLY was being questioned. KELLY admitted that she had written the child pornography stories at Shaun's request, and claimed they were fabricated, but admitted that they involved girls known to her. She reported her knowledge that Shaun had been looking at child pornography on the Internet, and finally admitted that she knew the child pornography was there. She admitted fulfilling his fantasies, admitted writing the child pornography stories, admitted that she viewed child pornography with Shaun, and admitted she had printed some of it out and knew he put it on CDs.
Both KELLY and Shaun were interviewed a second time. KELLY admitted again that Shaun had downloaded child pornography from the Internet and that he would ask her to come to the computer to view it. She stated that she believed that he possessed thousands of images of young children. KELLY also stated that the computer had two profiles, and both contained child pornography in image and video format. KELLY admitted that one of the movies was of a 16-year-old girl engaging in rather violent sexually explicit conduct that she and Shaun acted out in their own sexual activity several times. KELLY admitted stealing underwear from a pre-teen child for Shaun, and that stated that Shaun would take pictures of young girls out in public, hoping to get them with their underwear exposed.
When questioned the second time, Shaun again admitted using the Internet to receive and possess child pornography, confirmed that he would call KELLY over to look at the images, and confirmed that he would take pictures as described by KELLY.
A forensic computer analysis confirmed that child pornography was located on the computers in the Mortenson residence.
Shaun Mortenson pled guilty to federal charges and has been sentenced.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that MORTENSON will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, MORTENSON does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcia K. Hurd prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Great Falls Police Department and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
