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Bel Air man gets 5 years for child porn distribution

Staff report

Posted 8/04/10

A Bel Air man was sentenced July 28 to five years in jail for distribution of child pornography.

In addition to jail time, Ronald Riggs, 64, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake to supervised release for life.

According to Riggs’ plea agreement, in December 2008 an undercover law enforcement agent searching the Internet for child pornography connected to a file sharing program and downloaded 11 files belonging to Riggs. The files contained child pornography.

On Feb. 4, 2009, a search warrant was executed at Riggs’ home and computers and other electronic media were seized. Eighty-eight images and 12 video files documenting the sexual abuse of minors, including children under age 12, were found on Riggs’ computer. Riggs admitted there were more than 600 images of child pornography on his computer.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse; it was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bonnie S. Greenberg and Tamera Fine.