FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 22, 2008
KENNETH EDWARD BURCH 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 Billings on May 21, 2008, before Senior U.S. District Judge Jack D. Shanstrom, KENNETH EDWARD BURCH, a 50-year-old resident of Billings, pled guilty to possession of child pornography. Sentencing is set for August 27, 2008. He is currently detained.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
BURCH was on state supervision for hands-on offenses with two teen girls in 2000. BURCH served prison time and was paroled to Billings. As a condition of his parole, he was not allowed to use computers or the Internet.
On November 27, 2006, BURCH'S employer contacted BURCH'S parole officer to report that BURCH had been using the store computer and Internet to access and view child pornography. A store employee had inadvertently seen BURCH viewing an image which appeared inappropriate. The officer received consent from the pawn shop owner to do a quick scan of the computer which did show images of child pornography. The officer then contacted the Montana Cyber Crimes Task Force for assistance.
When questioned, BURCH admitted that he had been using the shop's computer to view child pornography for a period of six to eight weeks. The computer was not password protected and all store employees used the same account. BURCH noted his preference for teen girls and admitted that he would visit those sites for short periods of time while at work. BURCH erased the Internet history and deleted the images each time he viewed them to avoid detection.
Approximately 110 images containing child pornography were found on the computer when it was forensically examined.
BURCH faces possible penalties of a minimum mandatory of 10 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 a cooperative effort between the Montana Probation and Parole and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
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A copy of the Offer of Proof can be obtained by contacting Sally Frank at (406) 247-4638.
