27 Years For Child Pornographer, Molester
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Hoffman Estates man is going to prison for 27 years for making and distributing child pornography – including a video he produced of himself sexually molesting a 1-year-old.
Donald R. Peppers. 36, was arrested by FBI agents on June 3, 2009, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, wjhere he was traveling on business at the time. Peppers pleaded guilty in August, admitting that he had produced a video of himself sexually molesting a 1-year-old knowing that it would be disseminated in interstate commerce via computer, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Using the online profile with the name of "illinoisdonboy31," Peppers communicated via computer about brutally sexually molesting children, and he created and traded images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Peppers was caught by an undercover officer, to whom he sent several videos showing an adult male sexually abusing children, one of which was the one showing Peppers himself molesting the 1-year-old, the FBI said at the time.
According to court documents, Peppers had been identified by the FBI's Innocent Images Task Force in Virginia as a possible distributor of child pornography over the internet. A search of Peppers' residence by the FBI and Hoffman Estates police following his arrest yielded a collection of hundreds of thousands of images and videos of child pornography, which he had stored on various computer hard drives, the release said.
Peppers told the undercover officer in a chat room that he collected child pornography and had sexually abused children. He sent the undercover agent several videos showing adults sexually abusing children, and one of the adults is believed to be Peppers himself, the FBI said.
The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge William Hibbler. Peppers must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for release and there is no parole in the federal prison system.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
