Falls Church Man Sentenced in Child Porn Case

Ralph Freeman, 54, of Falls Church, was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release, for receiving and possessing thousands of child pornography files that he downloaded from online networks, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Freeman was found guilty on Jan. 2, following a bench trial that concluded in November 2014. According to court documents, Freeman used the eDonkey peer-to-peer network and Usenet Newsgroup to download child pornography.

More than 2,900 still-image files and 180 video files of suspected child pornography were found on a desktop, and more than 9,000 images were found on an external hard drive at Freeman’s residence. Freeman viewed, accessed, received, and downloaded child pornography files between 2005 and 2013.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, Washington, D.C., made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Gardner and Tracy Doherty-McCormick prosecuted the case.