PEORIA, Ill. – A Peoria, Illinois, man, David Robertson II, 39, of the 500 block of Voris Street, was sentenced on September 9, 2022, to 15 years in prison for receipt of child pornography, to be followed by a lifetime term of supervised release.
At the sentencing hearing in front of U.S. District Judge James E. Shadid, the government presented evidence that in September 2021 Robertson was serving a term of supervised release for a prior federal conviction for receipt of child pornography. At that time, one of the conditions of Robertson’s supervised release allowed probation officers to conduct periodic, unannounced exams of computer equipment and/or communications devices, including phones, due to the nature of his prior conviction. During a routine probation home visit in September 2021, Robertson turned over a mobile phone and a tablet that he had not reported to either his probation officer or on his sex offender registry. Robertson indicated to authorities that the electronic devices would contain child pornography, which was confirmed by a preliminary examination. The U.S. Secret Service subsequently obtained and executed a search warrant for Robertson’s devices, which confirmed Robertson had downloaded child pornography. In addition, the investigation revealed that Robertson owned three unregistered email accounts and a previously unreported phone number, along with a browser history of websites indicative of child pornography. In total, the evidence showed that Robertson’s devices contained 52 videos and 1,680 images of child pornography.
As noted previously, at the time of this offense, Robertson was serving a term of supervised release related to his prior 2010 federal conviction for receipt of child pornography (for which he also served a ten-year sentence of imprisonment). Robertson had previously violated the terms of his supervised release in that 2010 federal case when he possessed obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children; his release was revoked in June 2020, and he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of twelve months and a day, to be followed by a ten-year term of supervised release, for that first violation. For the instant second violation of the supervised release term, Robertson was sentenced to twenty-four months’ imprisonment, to run concurrently to the 15-year sentence imposed in this case.
Robertson was indicted in December 2021 and entered a guilty plea in March 2022. He has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest.
The statutory penalties for receipt of child pornography after a previous conviction for production, possession, or receipt of child pornography are 15 to 40 years imprisonment, to be followed by a term of supervised release of five years up to life. Special assessments under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act are also possible.
The United States Secret Service and Peoria County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine G. Legge represented the government in the prosecution.
The case against Robertson 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.