Former Fresno County Sheriffs Sergeant Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison For Receiving and Possessing Child Pornography

To: NATIONAL EDITORS

Contact: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, +1-202-514-2007, TDD, +1-202-514-1888

WASHINGTON, July 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ronald B. VaughnJr., 42, a former sergeant for the Fresno County, Calif., SheriffsDepartment was sentenced to serve 168 months in federal prison forchild exploitation offenses, Acting Assistant Attorney GeneralMatthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for theEastern District of California McGregor W. Scott announced today.Senior U.S. District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger also orderedVaughn to register as a sex offender and remain on supervisedrelease for 30 years.

On Feb. 29, 2008, after a 27-day trial, a federal jury in Fresnoconvicted Vaughn of two counts of possessing and attempting topossess child pornography, as well as one count of receiving andattempting to receive child pornography. The evidence and testimonyat the trial established that between 2000 and 2001, Vaughninvestigated child exploitation offenses as a detective in the SexCrimes Unit of the Sheriffs Department. He later became a sergeantand transferred out of the unit in June 2001. He left the departmententirely in 2004 to operate Ron Vaughn Jr. Photography, a privatephotography business that specialized in photographing weddings,students and area sports teams.

While working in the Sex Crimes Unit in 2000, Vaughn gainedaccess to approximately 275 still and video images of childpornography, 100 of which were discovered on a CD-ROM found in hisphotography studio in November 2005. Vaughn raised numerous defensesat trial, including that he was legally authorized to receive andpossess child pornography by virtue of his position at the SheriffsDepartment. However, the evidence and testimony in the caseestablished that the CD-ROM was created in October 2002 -- afterVaughn left the Sex Crimes Unit.

At trial, evidence showed that a forensic analysis of a computerVaughn shared with his ex-wife, a computer he shared with his ex-girlfriend and his own personal laptop computer revealed that the CD-ROM found in Vaughns photography studio had been viewed or copied oneach of the computers. Also discovered on Vaughns three computerswas evidence that a user downloaded files with titles indicative ofchild pornography using a peer-to-peer file sharing program notinvolved in any case that Vaughn investigated for the SheriffsDepartment. Peer-to-peer software programs permit computer usersconnected to the Internet to link computers around the world, forthe purpose of sharing files. Such programs can also be used tosearch for and download child pornography. Evidence found on Vaughnslaptop and presented at trial showed that he used the peer-to-peerprogram to download at least six images depicting the rape andmolestation of children, at least two of which featured a minorwhose abuse had not been photographed until after Vaughn left theSex Crimes Unit.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Gappaof the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Californiaand Trial Attorney Jill Trumbull-Harris of the Criminal DivisionsChild Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). The investigationin the case was conducted jointly by the Fresno County SheriffsDepartment and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents inFresno. Computer forensic analysis and expert trial testimony wasprovided by the High Tech Investigative Unit of CEOS.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice