INDIANA MAN SENTENCED ON childPORNOGRAPHiCHARGES _ Manager and Instructor of Drive Zone in Greenwood\r
WASHINGTON - James M. Tanksley, 52, pleaded guilty today to two counts of receipt\r
of childpornographi and one count of possession of childpornographi and was sentenced to 80\r
months in prison, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A.\r
Breuer and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Timothy M. Morrison.\r
Tanksley, a resident of Indianapolis, was also sentenced today by U.S. District Court\r
Judge Sarah Evans Barker to lifetime supervised release following completion of his prison term.\r
During today’s plea and sentencing hearing before Judge Barker, Tanksley admitted to\r
being a member of two Internet-based bulletin board groups dedicated to the trading of childpornographi. The groups, comprised of members from around the world, could only be\r
accessed using a unique username and password. The groups had very detailed rules for\r
behavior, including requiring all members to post only pornographic images or videos depicting\r
minors under the age of 18. Members were also required to post their images or videos in preestablished\r
categories based on the type of material, such as hardcore videos or individual\r
images of girls aged 0-6.\r
Tanksley admitted he was an active participant on both bulletin boards and that his\r
involvement dated from June 2006 to May 2007. Tanksley also admitted that on some occasions\r
he commented on the quality of the childpornographi he received from other members;\r
expressed his gratification upon seeing the images or videos; and described the sexual acts the\r
children, some younger than approximately 6 years old, engaged in. Through his plea, Tanksley\r
also admitted to possessing childpornographi.\r
Tanksley was identified through “Operation Joint Hammer,” the U.S. component of an\r
ongoing global enforcement operation targeting transnational rings of childpornographers. The\r
operation has led to the arrest of more than 60 people in the United States involved in the trade\r
of child pornography. Operation Joint Hammer was initiated through evidence developed by\r
European law enforcement and shared with U.S. counterparts by Europol and Interpol. The\r
European portion of this global enforcement effort, “Operation Koala,” was launched after the\r
discovery of the activities of several people in Europe who were abusing children and producing\r
photographs of the abuse for commercial gain. Further investigation unveiled a number of\r
online childpornographi rings.\r
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. DeBrota of the Southern\r
District of Indiana and Trial Attorney Alecia Riewerts Wolak of the Criminal Division’s Child\r
Exploitation and Obscenity Section. The investigation was handled by the U.S. Postal\r
Inspection Service, which was assisted by the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and\r
Customs Enforcement, the FBI and the Indiana State Police.\r
Cons: convicted instructor for child pornography
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