Source: United States Department of Justice News
PROVIDENCE – A former North Kingstown man who transferred sexually explicit material to another person online, after the other person represented that he was a 10-year-old child, has been sentenced to five years of federal probation, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.
Neil Streich, 60, whose currently resides in West Warwick, pleaded guilty in October 2020 to a charge of importation or transportation of obscene material.
Streich admitted that in March 2020, he transferred three sexually explicit videos of himself via Kik, an Internet-based text and social media platform, to a person who was posing as a 10-year-old girl. Streich made the transfer after approximately one week of communications with the person who was, in fact, an FBI undercover agent based in Pennsylvania who was assigned to the FBI Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force.
At the time of Streich’s arrest, FBI agents, with the assistance of the North Kingstown Police Department and the United States Marshals Service, executed a court-authorized search of Streich’s residence and seized electronic devices owned by Streich. A forensic examination of the devices revealed images and videos from Streich’s communications with the undercover agent.
Streich was sentenced on Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith to a term of five years of probation and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Milind M. Shah and G. Michael Seaman.
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