Caldwell man sent to federal prison after police located child porn on his cellphone
A Caldwell, Idaho man is expected to spend the next decade in prison after authorities located dozens of child pornography images and videos on his cellphone.
U.S. District Judge Amanda Brailsford sentenced 53-year-old Richard Alan Stansell to 135 months in federal prison – just over 11 years – Tuesday after he pleaded guilty in February, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney’s Office and court documents obtained by the Idaho Statesman.
In exchange for the plea deal, the attorney’s office agreed to dismiss an additional charge of distribution of child pornography, according to a plea agreement.
“The defendant’s illegal and harmful conduct in this case is deserving of the significant sentence imposed,” Idaho U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit said in the news release. “Other offenders tempted to produce, obtain or share child pornography should know that they cannot hide.”
After Stansell is released from prison, he will be placed on supervised release for an additional 16 years and required to register as a sex offender, the release said.
The Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a coalition of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies that investigate individuals who use the internet to prey on children, began investigating Stansell in October 2021. Law enforcement received a tip that several files of child pornography were uploaded to various social media accounts and a Google account that belonged to Stansell.
In January 2022, Idaho State Police also opened an unrelated investigation into Stansell after he began communicating online with two state police detectives who were posing as a 13-year-old girl, according to the plea agreement and news release. Stansell “engaged in sexually explicit conversation” with the detectives and also sent them photos of his penis and other pornographic images, the attorney’s office said.
The Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force seized Stansell’s phone after obtaining a search warrant in May 2022, according to the release and court documents, and located 16 images and 84 videos of child pornography along with evidence that he had exchanged child porn files with other people online.
Stansell admitted during an interview to receiving, viewing and disturbing child pornography, and he also confessed to chatting online and receiving explicit images from underage girls, according to the attorney’s office.
Hurwit in the release said the attorney’s office and Idaho’s law enforcement agencies are “laser-focused” on prosecuting anyone who victimizes children “to the fullest extent.”
“I am proud of the work done by our office in cooperation with the U.S. attorney, Idaho State Police, and the Caldwell Police Department,” Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said in the news release. “The ICAC unit has been instrumental in protecting children by putting offenders away.”