Defendant Ordered To Serve Life In Prison For Child Pornography

BALTIMORE, Feb. 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- United States
Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J.
Rosenstein announced today that U.S. District Judge
Marvin J. Garbis sentenced James A. Reigle, Jr., 46,
of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to life in prison in
connection with his December 8, 2005 conviction by a
federal jury of sexually exploiting minors to produce
child pornography; conspiracy to transport, ship, and
possess child pornography; and transportation and
shipment of child pornography.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, "This
case is significant for two reasons. First, the arrest
stemmed from a new law enforcement initiative in which
we take images of unknown adults from photographs that
show them engaging in sex with children, then we
broadcast the faces of the adults over the internet
and on television. We employ the same technology that
child molesters use to spread child pornography
anonymously, but we use it to identify the child
molesters and catch them. Second, this is the first
time that a defendant has been sentenced to serve a
mandatory sentence of life in prison for repeated sex
offenses against children, under the 'two strikes and
you're out' law enacted in 2003."

According to evidence established at trial, between
1998 and September 2002, Reigle developed
relationships with several minor males and took
pictures of them engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Reigle, an avid Internet user, developed a
relationship with Thomas Evered, 39, of Lolo, Montana,
whom he met in a chat room. The two formed a close
friendship and traded pictures with each other from
their child pornography collection.

The evidence showed that in 2002, Reigle was sentenced
by a U.S. District Judge in Harrisburg, to a 37 month
federal prison term for possession of child
pornography-that same year, a state judge in Dauphin
County, Pennsylvania sentenced Reigle to a concurrent
sentence for sexually molesting a Harrisburg boy.

Witnesses testified that shortly after he reported to
federal prison on September 23, 2002, Reigle contacted
Evered and asked him to take possession of his
collection of child pornography until Reigle was
released from prison. Thereafter, Evered, who was a
cross-country tractor trailer driver, kept the
collection with him at all times during his travels,
including two trips that took him through Maryland.

In a related case, Loren Williams, 45, of Edgewater,
Maryland was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in
prison for production of child pornography in
Maryland. The photographs in his collection included
photographs produced and transmitted over the internet
by Reigle.

Evidence presented to the court showed that Reigle has
been convicted on three previous occasions in
Pennsylvania state courts of offenses relating to the
sexual molestation of children. His 2002 federal
conviction for possession of child pornography was his
fourth conviction for a child sexual exploitation
offense.

On January 27, 2006 Evered was sentenced to 10 years
in prison followed by supervised release for life in
connection with his February 16, 2005 guilty plea to
sexually exploiting a minor boy for the purpose of
producing child pornography.

FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Louis M. Reigel
III, said, "The FBI, through our Innocent Images Unit,
is committed to aggressively pursuing individuals who
engage in the online sexual exploitation of children.
In 2004, we established the Endangered Child Alert
Program (ECAP) along with our law enforcement
partners. Through ECAP and with the assistance of
national media outlets and their viewers worldwide, to
date, we have been able to identity and arrest five of
the six "John Does" and one "Jane Doe" we profiled."

"Mr. Reigle committed heinous acts of abuse against
innocent children. A sentence of life in prison will
ensure that he cannot hurt another child," said John
Fox, Assistant Special Agent-In- Charge for ICE's
Office of Investigations in Baltimore. "Those of us in
law enforcement -- ICE agents, prosecutors and local
officers -- share a commitment to ensure that child
pornographers won't find a safe haven in cyberspace.
We will use every available tool at our disposal to
combat violators such as Mr. Reigle."

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, and the Baltimore Police
Department for the investigative work they performed
as part of the Innocent Images Task Force. Mr.
Rosenstein also commended "America's Most Wanted" for
the extraordinary assistance that program has provided
to law enforcement in this and many other cases.

Mr. Rosenstein praised Assistant United States
Attorneys Andrew G. W. Norman and Jonathan
Mastrangelo, who prosecuted the case.

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