DENVER (LAWFUEL) – Thomas Eugene Taylor, age 35, of Cedaredge, Colorado, was sentenced Tuesday by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Wiley Y. Daniel to serve 97 months (over 8 years) in federal prison for the possession of child pornography, United States Attorney Troy Eid and Denver FBI Special Agent in Charge James Davis announced today. Following his incarceration, Chief Judge Daniel ordered Taylor to serve 5 years of supervised release. Taylor is in federal custody, and was remanded to begin serving his sentence immediately.
Thomas Eugene Taylor was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on August 6, 2007. He pled guilty before Chief Judge Daniel on June 23, 2008. He was sentenced by the Chief Judge on October 28th, 2008.
According to the stipulated facts contained in the plea agreement, on June 15, 2007, based on information obtained from Taylor’s ex-girl friend, federal agents executed a search warrant at Taylor’s residence. Items seized included a laptop, three hard drives, and other peripheral materials. A forensic review of the laptop and hard drives revealed child pornography videos. Specifically, agents and investigators found that the seized laptop and hard drives contained videos of sadistic or masochistic images of children who had not yet attained the age of 12 years. In total Taylor possessed more than 600 images of child pornography.
“Possess child porn, do time,” said United States Attorney Troy Eid.
“A child is victimized over and over again each time their (pornographic) image is redistributed or shared,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge James Davis. “The FBI will aggressively pursue those who choose to harm, endanger and further victimize our children. We are grateful for the dedicated Agents and law enforcement partners who investigate these matters.”
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Newcastle, Colorado Police Department, and the Wyoming Internet Crimes Against Children task force.
Taylor was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Smith.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Department of Justice launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorney’s 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 http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
