United States Department of Justice

United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello
Northern District of California

MARTINEZ MAN SENTENCED TO ELEVEN YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR TRANSPORTING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OVER THE INTERNET

OAKLAND – United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced that United States District Court Judge Martin J. Jenkins sentenced defendant Kenneth Gibson last week to eleven years in prison for transporting child pornography over the internet. This sentence is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation working with local law enforcement agencies nationwide.

The defendant, 43, of Martinez, pleaded guilty on August 3, 2007. According to the plea agreement, Mr. Gibson admitted that from 2005 to 2007, he sent child pornography to people outside of California using Google’s Hello program, an instant messaging service that allows its users to exchange pictures. The defendant admitted to exchanging more than six hundred images containing child pornography. Some of the minors depicted were prepubescent, and some of the prepubescent minors were shown engaged in sadistic and masochistic sexual conduct.

The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Martin J. Jenkins following a guilty plea to a single count in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(1). In addition to sentencing the defendant to serve 135 months in federal prison, Judge Jenkins also ordered that the defendant be placed on a term of supervised release for 10 years following his release from prison. The defendant has been in custody since his guilty plea was entered on August 3, 2007.

Keslie Stewart is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Cynthia Daniel.

Further Information:             

Case #: 07-00180 MJJ

A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.

Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Joshua Eaton at (415) 436-6958 or by email at Josh.Eaton@usdoj.gov.