Alton man sentenced in court to imprisonment, supervised release for possession of child pornography

EAST ST. LOUIS - James Allen Ridder, 34, of Alton, IL., was sentenced in federal court today to 10 years' imprisonment, 10 years' supervised release, and a $100 special assessment, following his plea of guilty to possession of child pornography - that is still images and two video images of two minors, ages 15 and 17.

The minor victims in the case were children known to Ridder, Donald S. Boyce, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois said in an announcement.

The case was investigated by the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, which has a detective assigned to the Federal Bureau of Investigations Metro East Cybercrime Task Force. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ali Summers and Stephen Clark.

Boyce also said this case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”