SAVANNAH — Edmund A. Booth Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, announced that Richard Burton, 43, of Rincon, was sentenced on June 20 in U.S. District Court in Savannah to 120 months imprisonment for his conviction of possession of child pornography, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252A(a) by Chief U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr.

Booth stated that the evidence at the hearing showed Burton, a former paramedic, possessed 110 pictures and six videos depicting child pornography and that he distributed images of child pornography to others via the Internet, including to other traders of child pornography and to individuals he believed were minors under the age of 18.

Booth noted that the case was the result of a national investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the New Waterford (Ohio) Police Department, Special Agents Eugene Howard and John Barry of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Special Agent Joshua Hayes of Federal Bureau of Investigation and Special Agent Thomas West of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Wade represented the government.

Booth commented that this case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, which is a nationwide U.S. Department of Justice initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Office, 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.