URBANA, Ill. –Neal A. Evans, 51, previously of Piatt County and now of rural Ogden, Illinois, was sentenced on November 16, 2021, to 60 months’ imprisonment for receipt and possession of child pornography.
At Evans’s sentencing hearing, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Michael M. Mihm noted the significant and long-lasting impact to the child victims depicted in the images Evans possessed.
In July 2021, Evans had entered a plea of guilty to both counts of the indictment: attempted receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography, with both offenses alleged to have occurred in January 2018. Evans was released on bond following arraignment on the indictment but was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals after his guilty plea.
The statutory penalty for receipt of child pornography is five to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000; possession of child pornography carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, and a fine of up to $250,000.
Following Evans’s release from the Bureau of Prisons, he will be on federal supervised release for eight years and will be required to register as a sex offender.
The charges are the result of an investigation by the Macon County, Illinois, Sheriff’s office, with the assistance of the Decatur Police Department. Evans was previously employed in Macon County. Assistant U. S. Attorney Elly M. Peirson represented the government in the prosecution
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.
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