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Ponderay man sentenced for child porn
July 3, 2017
Aragon Miller, 43, of Ponderay, was sentenced in United States District Court last week to 57 months in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release and a $5,100 special assessment, for possession of child pornography.

Miller pled guilty to the charges on March 1.

According to the plea agreement and statements made in court, as far back as 2014, law enforcement officers observed that a computer in the Sandpoint area was making images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct available on the internet.

Based on this evidence, members of the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force were able to determine that the computer was located in the defendant’s Ponderay residence and obtained a state search warrant.

Miller was present during the search. He admitted that he used the internet and child pornography search terms to download images he knew were illegal.

When agents examined a computer seized from Miller’s residence they recovered 169 images and 21 videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Miller also used software to delete these images after he viewed them.

Senior United States District Court Judge Edward J. Lodge also ordered Miller to forfeit a hard drive he used during the commission of the crime and to pay $5,000 in restitution to a child depicted in several images that Miller possessed.

Miller will be required to register as a sex offender because of his conviction.

This case was investigated by the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a coalition of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies who investigate and prosecute individuals who use the internet to criminally exploit children.

The case was brought as a 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”
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