Coeur d’Alene Man Sentenced for Possessing Child Pornography

Scott Tyler Aresvik, 25, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was sentenced yesterday to 60 months in prison followed by ten years s of supervised release for possessing sexually explicit images of minors, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge also ordered Aresvik to pay $1,750 in restitution to a child identified in one of the pornographic images. Aresvik pleaded guilty to the charge on March 23. As part of his plea, he agreed to forfeit computer and electronic storage equipment.

According to court documents, on September 26, 2009, a deputy with the Shoshone County Sheriff's Office developed information that a computer at Aresvik's home contained child pornography on an Internet based file sharing network. The deputy connected to Aresvik’s computer and verified that the computer was making child pornography available for download by others.

On December 15, 2009, federal agents, Coeur d'Alene Police Department officers, and Shoshone County Sheriff's deputies served a federal search warrant at Aresvik’s residence in Coeur d'Alene. During the search agents seized a laptop computer, which was later found to contain ninety-one video files and nine still images containing images of real children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including videos of children being sexually abused by adult males.

Aresvik was present during the search. He admitted to FBI agents that he had been downloading child pornography for approximately one year.

“Individuals who use the Internet to access, view and share child pornography mistakenly believe their anonymity will protect them,” said Olson. “Federal, state and local law enforcement are committed to working together with prosecutors to identify and prosecute these individuals. We will continue to use every available tool to apprehend and convict them.”

The case was investigated by the North Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The task force is comprised of local and federal law enforcement agents from the Coeur d'Alene Police Department, the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office, the Post Falls Police Department, the Moscow Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States Secret Service, the U.S. Postal Service, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit projectsafechildhood.gov.