BANGOR, Maine: A Greenville man pleaded guilty today in federal court to possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee announced.
According to court records, beginning in January 2019, Eugene Murray, 27, began communicating with an FBI undercover agent on Kik Messenger – a free instant messaging application. These communications took place in a Kik Messenger chat group that appeared to have an interest in children and child pornography. Murray subsequently posted a link to the chat group that contained images of child pornography. Based on this and other information, a search warrant was obtained for Murray’s home. During the execution of the search warrant, Murray was interviewed and admitted to viewing child pornography. A forensic examination of Murray’s phone revealed several links containing images of child pornography.
Murray faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI investigated the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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 to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
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