United States Attorney Dennis R. Holmes announced that a Lake Andes, South Dakota, man convicted of Receipt and Distribution of Child Pornography was sentenced on February 28, 2022, by U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier.
Cameron Allen Zephier, age 25, was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100.
Zephier was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 2, 2021. He pled guilty on November 30, 2021.
The conviction stemmed from incidents between May 6, 2020, and September 30, 2020, when Zephier used his Snapchat accounts to upload files containing child pornography. Zephier downloaded the files from the internet to his cellular phone.
Zephier admitted to knowingly having received the digital files containing child pornography that had been transported in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce via the means of his cellular phone. Zephier knew the files contained child pornography as they depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Charles Mix County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper prosecuted the case.
Zephier was immediately turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.