Child porn conviction sends Helena man to prison for 10 years

HELENA—A Helena man who admitted receiving child pornography was sentenced today to 121 months in prison and to a lifetime of supervised release, said U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme.

William Sears Stebbins, 63, pleaded guilty in April to receipt of child porn.

Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell presided. Judge Lovell also ordered Stebbins to pay $21,000 restitution and to forfeit a tablet.

The case began in September 2018 when agents from the Helena Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force got a CyberTipline report from Google that a user had uploaded child porn files, prosecution court records said. Google also provided information that Stebbins was the user of the email account.

An investigation found that the gmail account had about 6,000 child porn images and that Stebbins, who had worked in Bozeman, had recently moved to Helena to live with a relative. A search of the relative’s home found that Stebbins was in a camper in the yard. Agents seized a tablet found in the camper, and a search of the tablet determined that it contained about 900 images child porn. Stebbins admitted to investigators that the email account was his.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bartleson prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI, the Helena Police Department, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations.