INDIANAPOLIS MAN SENTENCED TO 169 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR POSSESSION AND TRANSPORTATION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

INDIANAPOLIS - An Indianapolis man has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to more than 14 years in prison on child pornography charges, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Timothy Morrison announced today.

Timothy Lisby, 42, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker in the Southern District of Indiana to a three-count indictment charging him with two counts of transporting child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. Upon the acceptance of his guilty plea, Judge Barker sentenced Lisby to 169 months in prison. Lisby was taken immediately into custody.

The charges in the indictment were developed through an undercover law enforcement operation which targeted individuals who use Internet websites to trade in child pornography. After chatting online with an undercover agent on June 8, 2005, Lisby used his computer to send the agent several images of children engaged in sexual acts. Then, on June 16, 2005, Lisby again chatted with the agent and again used his computer to send similar illegal images. Subsequent investigation and forensic examination of Lisby's computer revealed that at the time of these crimes, Lisby also possessed numerous other images depicting the sexual exploitation of children on his computer, in addition to the illegal images he sent the agent.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys 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 about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.

The case is being prosecuted jointly by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven DeBrota of the Southern District of Indiana and Trial Attorney LisaMarie Freitas of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Customs and Immigration Enforcement, the Marion County Sheriff's Department, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the Indiana State Police, the Kokomo Police Department, and the Lawrence Police Department.