Federal Agents Use Internet Address To Find Sex Offender In AL

Child Sex Abuse

A federal court in Alabama has sentenced William Jason Walker, 49, to 78 months in prison for possession of child pornography.

Until his indictment, Walker had been a sales representative with the SKF factory in Alabama and was assigned a company laptop. Walker had used his assigned laptop to download and view child pornographic images when the criminal activities linked to his Internet Protocol (IP) address were flagged by the company systems in November 2019.

SKF representatives proceeded to notify the Department of Homeland Security Cyber Crimes Center (DHS/C3) in Fairfax, Virginia, of the crime and the internet address involved. Using information from company systems, agents determined that the laptop belonged to Walker, who worked at the SKF factory in Moody, Alabama.

Besides using the computer to download the obscene materials, Walker also used his personal iPad and thumb drives to view and store the pornographic images. The cybersecurity agents seized the devices and conducted a forensic examination, which revealed nearly 17,000 images and materials depicting various forms of suspected child sexual abuse.

As part of his sentence, Walker will serve ten years of supervised release and pay $51,000 in restitution to the victims. Furthermore, Walker must register as a sex offender per the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). Meanwhile, information regarding registered sex offenders in the United States is available on the National Sex Offender Registry. Likewise, Alabama maintains a state sex offender registry. Either registry is searchable by name, address, email, phone number, and compliance status.

Speaking on the conviction, U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona said the Department of Justice would not tolerate the victimization of minors, and individuals who produce, possess, or distribute child pornography will face the full wrath of the law. 

“A child predator has been taken out of our community for many years and will be closely monitored upon his release,” said Escalona.

The possession of child pornographic materials is a cybercrime in the United States. Individuals who have been victims of child sexual abuse or suspect ongoing child sexual abuse in their community are encouraged to report such activities to Project Safe Childhood.

Law enforcement agencies pool federal, state, and local resources to investigate, prosecute, convict, and monitor individuals found guilty of exploiting children via the internet. The project is also committed to identifying and rescuing victims of child sex abuse. Victims’ identities are kept anonymous, and records identifying them are not subject to public records requests.