Raleigh Man Sentenced to 151 Months for Illegally Receiving Child Pornography

RALEIGH – Robert J. Higdon, Jr., the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, announces that United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced WILLIAM TREVOR SOLOFF, 52, of Raleigh to 151 months’ imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised released.

On January 24, 2019, SOLOFF, pursuant to a Waiver of Indictment and with a written Plea Agreement, pled guilty to a Criminal Information which charged him with Receipt of Child Pornography that concluded on May 19, 2017.

Between March and May of 2017, the Apex North Carolina Police Department received four separate cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) indicating that the user of an IP address, later identified as assigned to SOLOFF, uploaded one or more images of child pornography to chatrooms on the website Chatstep and to SOLOFF’S Yahoo! Messenger account.

Investigators determined SOLOFF was residing on Abruzzo Drive in Apex with his wife and stepdaughter. On June 30, 2017, a search warrant was executed at SOLOFF’S residence during which SOLOFF made an unprotected statement wherein he admitted to visiting the website Chatstep and acknowledged observing images of child pornography in chatrooms that he visited.  Investigators informed SOLOFF that the logs from Chatstep reflected that the usernames “Trevor” and “TrevorinNC,” which originated from SOLOFF’S IP address, had been recorded uploading images of child pornography to Chatstep chatrooms on more than one occasion.  SOLOFF stated it was possible he could have taken an image that he saw during a conversation and shared it.  SOLOFF also admitted to having a Yahoo account; however, he indicated he did not remember if he sent those images.

Investigators conducted a forensic examination of SOLOFF’S computer, various hard drives, and other forms of digital media seized from SOLOFF’S residence and discovered a total of 1,910 images and 96 videos (96 videos x 75 images = 7,200 images) depicting child pornography.  The longest video that was discovered was 38 minutes and 16 seconds in duration.  Of the images and videos, 255 depicted the sexual abuse of infants or toddlers, 317 portrayed sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence, and 13 depicted bestiality.

Mr. Higdon commented:  “The uploading, downloading, sharing, transmission, sending, or any use of images or videos depicting child pornography victimizes the vulnerable victims seen in those images and further generates more demand for such images, which further victimizes innocent children.  We are committed to breaking this awful and degrading cycle and to punishing the criminals - like William Soloff - who are involved.  We are grateful for the serious way in which the Court handled this matter and for the sentence which the court imposed for its horrendous crime.”

This case was part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, a national program aimed at ensuring that criminals exploiting children are effectively prosecuted by making full use of all available law enforcement resources at every level.  For more information about this important national project, Project Safe Childhood, go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Apex Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Daniel W. Smith prosecuted the case for the government.