SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A Coffeen, Illinois, man, Trey Pease, 30, of the 100 block of South Street, was sentenced on May 4, 2022, to 168 months in prison for receipt of child pornography by United States District Judge Sue Myerscough.
At the sentencing hearing, the government presented evidence that between the summer of 2017 and the spring of 2018, Pease both solicited and received multiple images of child pornography from a minor. Pease conversed with the minor using an online social application. Pease also sent an image of himself to the minor.
During the hearing, Judge Myerscough specifically found that Pease had caused the minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for Pease’s sexual gratification, had used a computer to receive child pornography, and had engaged in a pattern of activity involving prohibited sexual conduct with minors on multiple occasions.
Pease was indicted in March 2020 and plead guilty in December 2021. He has been detained since his arrest in August 2020.
The statutory penalties for receipt of child pornography are not less than five years and up to 20 years in prison, not less than five years and up to life of supervised release, and not more than a $250,000 fine.
The Illinois State Police investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Tanner K. Jacobs 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.