An Emporia man will spend more than six years in federal prison after being sentenced in U.S. District Court today.
Norman S. Kidd, 41, was sentenced to 80 months in prison, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch. In March, Kidd pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography.
The investigation into Kidd's activities began in July 2007 when an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Innocent Images Unit in Maryland searched for child pornography on "Limewire," Cross said. Limewire is a peer-to-peer file-sharing program.
"Rather than downloading or uploading files to a central computer, Limewire users store files on their own hard drives," Jim Cross, spokesman for Welch said in a news release. "Limewire allows them to download files from other users' hard drives and to offer files for download by other users."
The agent downloaded images of child pornography from Kidd's computer in Emporia. The photos included pictures of girls 8 to 12 years old, who were naked and displaying their genitals.
On Jan. 31, 2008, agents executed a search warrant at Kidd's home, where they seized computer equipment containing images of child pornography.
The case was brought to court as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative by the U.S. Department of Justice to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.