GARDENDALE MAN SENTENCED TO 8 YEARS ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES  

BIRMINGHAM , AL - Donald Roger Phillips, Jr., 50, who lived in Gardendale, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court on two counts of possession of child pornography and three counts of receipt of child pornography. Judge James H. Hancock sentenced Phillips to 97 months  imprisonment, to be followed by 20 years Supervised Release.  Judge Hancock also ordered that Phillips register as a Sex Offender, and  not to have any unsupervised contact with a child under the age of 18.

“We will continue to combat child pornography  through aggressive prosecutions,” said U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin. “

According to the Plea Agreement, on May 7, 2007 , a company was called to Phillips’ house to clean up a fire.  Two workers were in the basement when they opened a closet and saw images of child pornography involving young boys.  One of the workers reported this to a family member who called the police.  Gardendale police obtained a search warrant for the house and executed it on May 11, 2007 .  Recovered from the house were three laptop computers, one PC, and images of child pornography.   Images of child pornography were found on the laptop computer in Phillips’ bedroom and on a computer he had given to a young girl across the street.  The images on that computer had been deleted prior to giving the minor the computer, and the minor did not have access to these images.  A computer forensic exam recovered these images and showed that the images were downloaded from the internet on July 30th, July 31st, and August 1st, 2006 .  Phillips admitted to downloading the images from the internet and possessing the images found on the computers.

The penalty for receipt of child pornography is a mandatory minimum term of 5 years in prison, up to a maximum of 20 years in prison., and a fine up to $250,000.00. The penalty for possession of child pornography is a maximum of 10 years in prison, and a fine up to $250,000.00.

Gardendale Police Department with the assistance of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this matter.  Assistant United States Attorneys Laura D. Hodge and Daniel J. Fortune are prosecuting the matter on behalf of the U.S. Government.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov