PORTLAND, Maine: A Lewiston man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Portland for possessing child pornography, U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee announced.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen sentenced Rodney Crowley, 33, to four years in prison and five years of supervised release. Crowley pleaded guilty on August 31, 2021.
According to court records, in August 2019, investigators with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed search warrants for Crowley’s residence and person. HSI had obtained information from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) regarding child pornography activity involving users of an internet messaging application. In an interview with investigators, Crowley admitted being a member of chat groups in which child pornography images were exchanged. Investigators later found several images and videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct on a memory card in Crowley’s cell phone.
HSI and the RCMP 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.
To report an incident involving the possession, distribution, receipt, or production of child pornography, file a report with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at www.cybertipline.com or 1-800-843-5678. Your report will be forwarded to a law enforcement agency for investigation and action. If you have an emergency that requires an immediate law enforcement response, please call 911 or contact your local police or sheriff’s department.
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