Tag Archive for: district
Eastern District of Oklahoma | Muskogee Resident Pleads Guilty To Possession Of Child Pornography
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Troy Richard Jenkins, age 32, of Muskogee, Oklahoma, entered a guilty plea to one count of possession of child pornography, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
During the plea hearing held June 27, 2023, Jenkins admitted to knowingly possessing and accessing with the intent to view more than 600 visual depictions involving the sexual exploitation of minors. Some of the pornographic images depicted children under the age of 12. Jenkins also admitted to distributing child pornography to others.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”
The charges arose from an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations.
The Honorable Gerald L. Jackson, United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report. At the conclusion of the plea hearing, Jenkins was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal pending sentencing.
Assistant United States Attorney Anthony C. Marek represented the United States.
Northern District of Iowa | Iowa Air National Guardsman Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography
Kevin Swanson, 35, from Sioux City, Iowa, entered a guilty plea in federal court on May 4, 2023, to possession of child pornography.
In a plea agreement, Swanson admitted that between August 2020, and August 2021, he used an Internet-based, peer-to-peer (P2P) network to knowingly receive visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including depictions involving prepubescent minors who had not reached the age of 12. Swanson had over 1,168 images and 4 video files of child exploitation materials.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set for a later date after a presentence report is prepared. Swanson was taken into custody by the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Swanson faces a sentence of up to 20 years imprisonment without the possibility of parole, a fine of not more than $250,000, a mandatory special assessment of $100 and a term of supervised release of at least 5 years to life.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Sioux City Police Department, and the Nebraska State Patrol. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kraig R. Hamit.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 22-4080. Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.
Minneapolis students use ‘Rickroll’ prank to highlight district computer security flaws
Updated 10 p.m.
Two Minneapolis Public Schools students used an email prank Friday to draw attention to what they say are more security flaws in the district’s computer systems.
The teens, who described themselves as members of Washburn High School’s class of 2025, sent a mass email from a district account to staff and students.
Couched as a Rickroll joke, in which a prankster tricks their target into listening to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” the email linked to a detailed report that the teens wrote detailing the problems that they found, including easily accessible student photos and usernames.
Ian Coldwater, a Minneapolis-based professional hacker who helps their clients find vulnerabilities in computer systems, said in a phone interview Friday that the students uncovered serious security flaws.
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“There are things that are accessible from within the network that shouldn’t be,” Coldwater said. “There should be extra layers of having to be authorized to see some of this stuff, even if you are connected to the school network.”
The teens wrote in their report that a March ransomware attack targeting the district inspired them to investigate other potential information technology problems.
Coldwater, who reviewed the report for MPR News, said that the students included suggested fixes and were careful not to publish private data.
“Their work is solid,” Coldwater said. “I hope that people see their talent, see their desire and commitment to act ethically and help them cultivate it, channel it in good directions, hire them to help fix this rather than punishing them.”
The teens wrote that they were not able to access their fellow students’ grades, but that potential security flaws with Chromebook laptops could enable “academic cheating and dishonesty” when the computers are used for standardized testing.
In an email to MPR News Friday afternoon, district spokesperson Crystina Lugo-Beach downplayed this latest incident.
“This was NOT a hack, but an internal email sent out by a group of students using…