Juneau County Man Convicted of Five Counts of Possession of Child Pornography

MADISON — Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced that Bradley Carver of Necedah was convicted today of five counts of possession of child pornography following a no contest plea hearing in Juneau County Circuit Court. Additional counts charged in the criminal complaint were dismissed as part of the plea agreement but will be considered at sentencing. Sentencing has been scheduled for March 27, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. before the Honorable John Roemer.

The charges resulted from an investigation by the Wood County Sheriff’s Department into the use of “peer-to-peer” file sharing programs for distribution of child pornography. According to the criminal complaint, a Wood County investigator was able to monitor traffic on the peer-to-peer software and saw files suspected to be child pornography distributed through an Internet protocol (IP) address that was later determined to be assigned to the defendant. In addition, the criminal complaint alleges that when a search warrant was conducted of the defendant’s computer and digital storage devices, more than 10,000 images and videos of suspected child pornography and child erotica were recovered by investigators.

The maximum possible penalty for each count is a term of imprisonment not to exceed 25 years or a fine of not more than $100,000, or both. Assistant Attorney General David W. Maas represents the state as special prosecutor for Juneau County. The case was investigated by the Wood County Sheriff’s Department and the Juneau County Sheriff’s Department.