Reedsport Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Transporting and Possessing Child Pornography

EUGENE, OR—U.S. District Judge Michael R. Hogan sentenced Gary Newell, 69, of Reedsport, to five years in prison for transporting and possessing child pornography. According to court documents from the May 8, 2012 sentencing hearing, Newell shared and traded images and videos of child pornography in online chat rooms. Another troubling aspect of Newell’s conduct, as noted in court filings, includes his admissions that he had written and shared erotic stories involving incest.

U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall noted, “This defendant’s conduct constituted repeated exploitation of the children in these images and videos. The images and videos are permanent records of these children being exploited and sexually abused. These images are not only damaging to the children they depict, but to society as a whole, in that their existence and availability contribute to the collective decline of our values. My office will work tirelessly with state and federal law enforcement partners to ensure that perpetrators who prey on children will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s 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 via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by the Oregon State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford.