Box Elder Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Receiving and Possessing Child Pornography

Press Release July 15, 2021

Acting United States Attorney Dennis R. Holmes announced that a Box Elder, South Dakota, man convicted of Receipt of Child Pornography and Possession of Child Pornography was sentenced on July 8, 2021, by Judge Jeffrey L. Viken, U.S. District Court.

As to the charge of Receipt of Child Pornography, Christopher Lee Golden, age 51, was sentenced to just over 8 years in federal prison, 10 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Golden was likewise sentenced to just over 8 years in federal prison, 10 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund for the charge of Possession of Child Pornography. The time to be served in federal prison and supervised release are to run concurrently.

Golden was indicted for the charges by a federal grand jury in October 2018. He was found guilty of the charges following a bench trial in Rapid City on January 19, 2021.

The charges related to Golden knowingly receiving and possessing sexually explicit images of minor females between June 2014 and September 2018. Golden was arrested in Rapid City in 2018 on a Colorado fugitive warrant for sexual exploitation of a child. At the time of his arrest, Golden had five devices containing child pornography and multiple devices on which he had installed data shredding applications and other anonymizing software.

This case was investigated by the South Dakota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, the Meade County Sheriff’s Office, and members of the Black Hills Fugitive Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Sazama prosecuted the case.

Golden was immediately turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Department of Justice Action Center