JACKSONVILLE BEACH MAN SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND COURT ORDERS FORFEITURE OF HIS RESIDENCE

 

Jacksonville, FL - U.S. District Judge Henry Lee Adams, Jr., today sentenced Frank Carter Butcher, age 61, a resident of Jacksonville Beach, Florida, to 5 years' incarceration and a 10 year term of supervised release for interstate transportation of child pornography. The Court ordered forfeiture of Butcher's residence, located at 1560 Evans Drive South, Jacksonville Beach, to the United States as part of Butcher's plea agreement as the residence facilitated his commission of the offense. Butcher was also ordered by the Court to register under federal and state law as a sex offender. Butcher was arrested in Jacksonville Beach on May 22, 2008, and has been in federal custody since that time.

According to court documents, during late 2007, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) office in New York City received a citizen complaint regarding child pornography on the Internet. Subsequently, an FBI agent, using an undercover computer linked to the Internet, logged onto a particular website and entered into a particular news group site. Posted in this particular news group site were two video files which were posted by a user identifying himself with a particular screen name and a particular e-mail address. This user was subsequently identified as Frank Carter Butcher. These posted videos depicted children being sexually abused. Further investigation revealed that the Internet connection used to post these videos was associated with a residence located at 1560 Evans Drive South, Jacksonville Beach, Florida

According to court documents, FBI agents and investigators with the Florida Attorney General’s Office (“AGO”) executed a federal search warrant at the residence located at 1560 Evans Drive South in Jacksonville Beach. During the search of Butcher’s residence, agents seized five computers (each with an internal hard disk drive), one external hard disk drive, 40 floppy disks, 60 DVDs and compact disks, two zip disks, and three magnetic tape storage cartridges. Forensic analysis of this media revealed at least 600 videos depicting child pornography located in three of the computer hard disk drives and amongst the loose media. Several of these videos portrayed sadistic conduct involving children. The two videos which had been posted by Butcher at the particular news group website were found in several locations throughout his computer media. The analysis also showed that Butcher had sent videos of child pornography to another individual in another state.

On May 22, 2008, Butcher was arrested. After being advised of his constitutional rights, Butcher told the agents that he visited the particular news group website and downloaded videos from the site. He stated that he also frequented one or two other sites where he also obtained videos of child pornography.

This is the second federal child pornography case in the Jacksonville area this year which resulted in the forfeiture of a sex offender's residence. On April 17, 2008, Darrell Mark Krause was ordered to forfeit his Julington Creek residence as part of his federal sentencing for possession of child pornography.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit of the State of Florida Attorney General’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown handled the prosecution of this case.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney's 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 on Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The Florida Attorney General's Child Predator CyberCrime Unit is a member of the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a federally funded program working nationwide to educate and support law enforcement to stop these crimes, and the FBI Cyber Taskforce in Jacksonville. The unit has made numerous arrests since October 2005 and has referred several cases to be prosecuted by federal authorities. More information on the Florida Attorney General's CyberCrime initiative is available at http://www.myfloridalegal.com.