Cottage Grove Man Sentenced for Possessing 142 Photos, 11 Videos of Child Pornography

February 12, 2010 - A 41-year-old Cottage Grove man was sentenced today in federal court for possessing 142 images and 11 video files of child pornography. In Minneapolis, United States District Court Judge John Tunheim sentenced Pang Thao to 76 months in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release on one count of possession of child pornography. Thao was indicted on August 11, 2009, and pleaded guilty on November 4, 2009.

In his plea agreement, Thao admitted that on April 30, 2008, he possessed items on his computer that contained visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He also admitted the items had been transmitted over the Internet.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Minneapolis Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly A. Svendsen.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood (“PSC”), a national initiative to combat the growing epidemic of sexually exploiting children, particularly via the Internet. PSC was launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in May of 2006. Led by the Department’s Criminal Division, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, along with U.S. Attorney’s nationwide, PSC encourages federal, state, and local law enforcement partnerships and provides resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who abuse children while identifying and rescuing victims of that crime. In 2008, PSC was credited with 2,289 child-pornography indictments being filed in federal court nationwide, a 33-percent increase over 2006. For more information about PSC, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.