PORTLAND, Maine: An Illinois man formerly stationed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Portland today for possessing child sexual abuse materials.
Chief U.S. District Judge Jon D. Levy sentenced Zakary Williams, 25, to 70 months in prison and five years of supervised release. In addition, Judge Levy ordered Williams to pay $47,000 in restitution to the victims depicted in some of the images and videos he possessed. Williams pleaded guilty on May 18, 2022.
According to court records, in May 2019, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) received information from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) regarding Kik Messenger users believed to be in the U.S. who were uploading child pornography. HSI agents traced one of the uploaded images back to an IP address associated with military housing on the New London Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Connecticut. HSI determined that Williams was the source of that image. In December 2020, agents interviewed Williams at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery where he was then stationed. Williams admitting sharing and viewing child pornography and consented to a search of his cell phone. The investigation revealed that Williams was storing hundreds of images and videos in a cloud-based storage account that depicted the sexual abuse of children. Many of the victims depicted were under the age of 12, and some were infants or toddlers.
HSI investigated the case with the assistance of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).
To report an incident involving the possession, distribution, receipt or production of child pornography: “Child pornography” captures the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. These images document victims’ exploitation and abuse, and they suffer re-victimization each time the images are viewed. 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, call 911 or contact your local police or sheriff’s department.
Project Safe Childhood: 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.
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