Wilmington man sentenced for child pornography

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A Wilmington man will spend 18 years in prison for possessing pornographic images of children who were under the age of 12.

According to a news release from the US Department of Justice, a judge also sentenced Ricardo Jerome Bennett, Sr., 48, to 10 years of supervised release once he’s out of prison. He must also pay restitution in the amount of $10,000.

 in November of 2018, Bennett was found guilty of two counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography containing minors following a three day trial.

In August 2014, the Federal Bureau of Investigation utilized undercover software to identify an IP address downloading child pornography and offering such files for download by others. A search warrant was issued for the home address associated with the IP address.

During that search, law enforcement confiscated multiple electronic devices belonging to Bennett. In addition, prosecutors say Bennett made a full confession to law enforcement to downloading and possessing child pornography.

A forensic examination of those devices revealed more than 1000 files of child  pornography, downloaded in the same manner that Bennett described in his interview.

These files included both still images and videos depicting minors, including minors under the age of 12, engaged in sexually explicit activity.

This case was part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, a national program aimed at ensuring that criminals exploiting children are effectively prosecuted by making full use of all available law enforcement resources at every level.