Images Include Over 1,234 Pictures of Identified Children
SAN JOSE– LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – United States Attorney Scott N. Schools announced that Erik Fisher Erdman, 47, of Sunnyvale, California pled guilty today to receiving thousands of images of child pornography over the internet.
Erdman pled guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2). As part of his guilty plea, Erdman admitted that he possessed on his two home computers over 4,000 active child pornography images and 16 child pornography videos. He also admitted that the images he received over the internet included 1,234 active images of known child victims and the videos included two videos of known child victims. Erdman also agreed that many of the images and videos portray sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence, and many of the minors depicted are prepubescent.
U.S. District Court Judge James Ware has scheduled sentencing for Erdman on February 4, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. The maximum statutory penalties for receiving child pornography are 20 years in prison (with a five-year mandatory minimum), supervised release for life (with a five-year mandatory minimum), a $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing imposition of sentences, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Matthew A. Lamberti is the Assistant United States Attorney who is prosecuting the case, with the assistance of legal assistant Susan Kreider. The prosecution is the result of a investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Further Information:
Case #: CR 07-00390 JW
