Press Release From The Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Idaho
A Weiser man was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for possession of child pornography.
According to court records, in March of 2020, the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force began investigating two CyberTips from Yahoo. A CyberTip is a report submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCMEC gathers leads and tips regarding suspected online crimes against children and forwards them to the appropriate law enforcement agencies. According to the CyberTips, between February 13, 2018, and March 11, 2020, child pornography was uploaded to a Yahoo account that was later identified as belonging to Stuart Bardan, 37, of Weiser.
ICAC obtained a search warrant for the contents of the Yahoo account and located several images of child pornography, including files depicting prepubescent children engaged in sexual acts. ICAC also located evidence that Bardan had used his email account to distribute files of child pornography to other individuals. On July 9, 2020, ICAC executed a federal search warrant at Bardan’s residence in Weiser to search for evidence of the possession of child pornography. ICAC seized Bardan’s cellphone and located numerous files of child pornography on the cellphone. Bardan admitted to using his email account to distribute child pornography and to searching for child pornography on the internet.
Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye also ordered Bardan to serve ten years of supervised release following his prison sentence and ordered Bardan to forfeit the cellphone that was used to commit the offense. As a result of the conviction, Bardan will be required to register as a sex offender.
Acting U.S. Attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez, Jr., of the District of Idaho made the announcement and commended the cooperative efforts of the Idaho ICAC Task Force, United States Postal Inspection Service, and Washington County Sheriff’s Office, which led to charges.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. As part of Project Safe Childhood, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office partner to marshal federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
