A Georgia man who photographed his sexual molestation of young boys and then distributed the images on the Internet has been sentenced by a federal court to more than 12 years in prison.
The punishment meted out Wednesday to 19-year-old Robert William Burford of Lawrenceville brought an end to a case that was part of an ongoing Internet child-pornography sweep federal officials call 'Operation Candyman.'
Named for an invitation-only Internet group that authorities said was called Candyman, the FBI operation had logged charges against 89 individuals in the U.S. by March of this year.
Burford, who is unemployed and living in his mother's home, was charged last September after using his brother's Internet account to share his pornographic images.
Investigators said Burford created the pictures himself after befriending two 10-year-old neighborhood children and sexually assaulting them.
In March, Burford pleaded guilty to transmitting child pornography in interstate commerce by computer.
U.S. District Court Judge Orinda Evans sentenced the man to 12 years and 7 months and jail, followed by a three-year supervised release.
News source: NewsBytes - Man Gets 12 Years In 'Candyman' Child-Porn Sweep
The punishment meted out Wednesday to 19-year-old Robert William Burford of Lawrenceville brought an end to a case that was part of an ongoing Internet child-pornography sweep federal officials call 'Operation Candyman.'
Named for an invitation-only Internet group that authorities said was called Candyman, the FBI operation had logged charges against 89 individuals in the U.S. by March of this year.
Burford, who is unemployed and living in his mother's home, was charged last September after using his brother's Internet account to share his pornographic images.
Investigators said Burford created the pictures himself after befriending two 10-year-old neighborhood children and sexually assaulting them.
In March, Burford pleaded guilty to transmitting child pornography in interstate commerce by computer.
U.S. District Court Judge Orinda Evans sentenced the man to 12 years and 7 months and jail, followed by a three-year supervised release.
News source: NewsBytes - Man Gets 12 Years In 'Candyman' Child-Porn Sweep
William Duffey Jr., the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said that, as part of his sentence, Burford will plead guilty to charges of child molestation in Gwinnett County, and for that serve 25 years of probation after the federal sentence.
"This case is an outrageous example of the exploitation of one of the most vulnerable members of our community - a child," Duffey said in a prepared statement.
During a March sweep related to Operation Candyman, at least four other men were arrested in the Northern District of Georgia and charged with the use of computers to possess child pornography.
The FBI claims that the Candyman group may have had as many as 7,000 members, with some 4,600 of them in the U.S.
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