FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 05, 2008
ERIC CHANDLER RIGGS PLEADS GUILTY IN U.S. FEDERAL COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Missoula on May 5, 2008, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch, ERIC CHANDLER RIGGS, age 24, formerly of Bozeman, pled guilty to receipt and possession of child pornography. Sentencing is set for September 19, 2008. He is currently released on special conditions.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a CyberTipline report indicating that an individual had put numerous images of child pornography into a Yahoo! on-line account. The report was forwarded by NCMEC to the FBI in January of 2007 for further investigation, as the poster of the images was in Montana. The FBI determined that the IP address of the computer used to post the images was associated with MSU in Bozeman. The IP address ultimately was traced to RIGGS, who was a student and lived in college housing.
On May 10, 2007, officers served a search warrant on RIGGS' dorm room. RIGGS was questioned and admitted that he had received and possessed the child pornography images in question via the Internet and that he had uploaded images to Yahoo!photos. He also admitted that the Yahoo!photo accounts were password protected and he was the only person that had access to them. RIGGS further admitted that he kept the images for sexual gratification and that he had used them for that purpose several times. RIGGS admitted that Yahoo! had shut down his account at some point in 2006.
A subsequent forensic analysis of RIGGS' computer revealed over a thousand images and 24 videos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including many known children, and including children clearly prepubescent or under the age of 12 engaged in sadistic or masochistic activity or other depictions of violence. The images were received and possessed via the Internet and RIGGS' computer equipment.
RIGGS faces possible penalties of a mandatory minimum of 5 years in prison and could be sentenced to 20 years, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervision.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcia K. Hurd prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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A copy of the Offer of Proof can be obtained by contacting Sally Frank at (406) 247-4638.
