PEORIA, Ill. – A North Pekin, Illinois man, Larry Daniel Saal, 54, of the 100 block of Lincoln Boulevard, was sentenced on August 3, 2022, to 6 years in the Bureau of Prisons for soliciting an obscene visual depiction of a minor and for distribution of child pornography. The sentence is to be followed by a 6-year term of supervised release. Saal must also register as a sex offender and pay $13,000 in restitution to the victims.
At the sentencing hearing in front of U.S. District Court Judge Joe Billy McDade, the government presented evidence that, in 2015, Saal emailed another individual on Yahoo to request images and videos depicting adults sexually abusing prepubescent children. In 2016, Saal emailed images and videos containing child pornography to another Yahoo user. Law enforcement officers interviewed Saal in 2021, and he admitted receiving child pornography through Yahoo. Law enforcement officers obtained a search warrant for his phone, and they found images of child pornography and internet searches related to child pornography from April 2021.
Saal was indicted in September 2021 and pleaded guilty in February 2022.
The statutory penalties for each count are 5 to 20 years of imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000, and 5 years to life of supervised release.
The Washington Police Department and Department of Homeland Security investigated the case, assisted by the Illinois State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Hollingshead-Cook represented the government in the prosecution.
The case against Saal 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