Source: United States Department of Justice News
Acting United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Jonathan L. Traver, 30, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha for possession of child pornography. United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Traver to 105 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After his release from prison, Traver will begin a five-year term of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender.
On September 19, 2020, an Investigator with the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP), Special Operations Division, was working in an undercover capacity on the Bit Torrent network. The NSP was working to identify persons distributing child pornography to other Bit Torrent network users. The Investigator was sent child pornography from another individual located in Omaha. During the investigation, the NSP was able to identify the IP address of the individual who sent the child pornography to the undercover Investigator. The NSP obtained information related to the IP address, which ultimately identified Traver as the subscriber.
On October 9, 2020, NSP Investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol contacted Traver at his Omaha residence. Traver confessed to downloading and viewing files of child pornography on the Bit Torrent network. NSP Investigators located numerous videos and image files of child pornography on Traver’s cell phone. Some of these images involved children under the age of 12 engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and 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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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.justice.gov/psc.
This case was investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations.