BOISE, IDAHO – Cameron Benjamin, 22, of Nampa, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 97 months in federal prison for possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced today. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye also ordered Benjamin to serve 15 years of supervised release following his prison sentence. Benjamin pleaded guilty to the charge on August 17, 2020.
According to court records, in December 2019, Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force began investigating five Cybertips from Twitter. According to the Cybertips, child pornography had been uploaded to five different Twitter accounts. Through its investigation, ICAC was able to determine that the accounts belonged to Benjamin. A federal magistrate judge issued a search warrant for the contents of the Twitter accounts. Within the accounts, ICAC located approximately 70 images and two videos of child pornography. ICAC also located messages where Benjamin discussed trading child pornography with other Twitter users. A federal magistrate judge also issued a search warrant for Benjamin’s residence in Nampa. ICAC executed the search warrant and seized Benjamin’s cellphone. A forensic examination of the cellphone revealed approximately 253 images of child pornography. Benjamin admitted to investigators that he had used his Twitter accounts to send and receive child pornography.
Judge Nye also ordered Benjamin to pay restitution in the amount of $6,000 to victims in the images he possessed and to pay a $5,100 special assessment. As a result of his conviction, Benjamin will be required to register as a sex offender.
This case was investigated by Idaho ICAC Task Force with assistance from United States Postal Inspection Service and Nampa Police Department, 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. As part of Project Safe Childhood, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office partner to marshal 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.