PORTLAND, Maine: A Boothbay man was sentenced today in federal court for distributing child pornography, U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee announced.
Chief U.S. District Judge Jon D. Levy sentenced Joseph Pinkham, 35, to 15 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release. Pinkham pleaded guilty on June 23, 2021.
According to court records, in October 2019, Pinkham sent several text messages to an individual in Texas containing images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The individual in Texas reported the conduct to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators identified the sender as Pinkham and obtained a search warrant for his residence in Boothbay. In an interview with investigators, Pinkham acknowledged sending sexually explicit images of minors to the individual in Texas.
Pinkham was subject to an enhanced sentence because he had been previously convicted of child pornography offenses.
“As the defendant in this case himself noted at sentencing, the distribution of images of child sexual abuse revictimizes those children who are depicted in the images,” said U.S. Attorney McElwee. “Individuals who commit these offenses, particularly those like Mr. Pinkham who commit them after being convicted for similar conduct, face significant punishment under federal law.”
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, the Dallas (Texas) Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations 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.
# # #
Training and seminars for Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement Agencies.
Help us combat the proliferation of sexual exploitation crimes against children.
Our nation-wide commitment to reducing violent crime in America.
Making sure that victims of federal crimes are treated with compassion, fairness and respect.