United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Keenen G. Russell, 24, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was sentenced today in Lincoln, Nebraska, to 78 months in prison by Chief United States District Judge John M. Gerrard, for the receipt and distribution of child pornography.  After his release from federal prison, Russell will be required to serve 5 years on supervised release and register as a sex offender. 

In September of 2016, the Omaha office of the Department of Homeland Security received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) concerning two tips they had received from Twitter, Inc.  In August of 2016, a Twitter user posted numerous images of suspected child pornography on their Twitter account.  Twitter identified the images as being suspected child pornography, suspended the user’s account and forwarded the identifying information to NCMEC.  Twitter identified the user and account holder as Keenen Russell.  Of the 59 total images, 12 images were child erotica and 27 images were child pornography as defined by federal law.  In November of 2016, a federal search warrant was served on Russell’s residence in Lincoln. An Apple iPad was seized and after forensic examination, an additional 346 images and 771 thumbnails of child pornography were located.

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. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security.