Oakdale Man Sentenced for Distributing Child Pornography

A 51-year-old Oakdale man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday morning for distributing an image containing child pornography, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Brian Gene Montgomery was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison followed by a life term of supervised release for one count of distributing child pornography, according to the release.

Montgomery pleaded guilty last October to distributing an image through his computer on Feb. 23, 2011, that depicted a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, the release says. He also admitted to distributing similar material at other times, the release says.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Minnesota Cyber Crimes Task Force, which is sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service, according to the release.

Presently, the U.S. Justice Department is funding a study concerning the correlation between involvement in child pornography and the hands-on sexual abuse of children, the release says. A 2008 study (The Butner Study) published in the Journal of Family Violence found that up to 80 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for possession, receipt or distribution of child pornography also admitted to hands-on sexual abuse of children, ranging from touching to rape, according to the release.