A Highland man was sentenced Friday to 17 1/2 years in federal prison on a child pornography indictment.
Richard Hogg, 56, was charged with one count of distribution of child pornography; two counts of receipt of child pornography; one count of access with intent to view child pornography; and one count of possession of prepubescent child pornography.
In a press release, Acting U.S. Attorney James L. Porter said Hogg’s sentence will be followed by 15 years of supervised release, and Hogg was ordered to pay a $500 special assessment. Hogg also was ordered, pursuant to a plea agreement, to pay $2,000 in restitution to each of three victims depicted in the images and videos of child pornography he distributed, received or possessed, and to forfeit the electronic media that contained the child pornography. Hogg has been detained since he entered his guilty plea Jan. 25.
The charges arose after the FBI found online information that Hogg had engaged in a sexually explicit chat with what he apparently believed to be a minor female, as well as other reports of Hogg soliciting minors to engage in sex acts. Based on this information, on Feb. 3, 2015, the FBI went to Hogg’s residence. Hogg agreed to provide a voluntary statement in which he admitted chatting online with a girl he believed to be age 16 who resided in New York, and that the chats were sexual in nature.
Hogg told investigators he began viewing pornography in 2007 and that he gradually started viewing younger females. When asked if images of prepubescent children would be found on his computer, he replied in the affirmative. When asked what the pictures he owned showed with respect to the minor females, he replied “everything.” When asked how often he chatted with young females online, he said that it likely occurred a “few times a month.” Hogg estimated that he had approximately 1,000 images and four videos of child pornography on his computers, and that they would be found in the My Pictures folder on his computers. Hogg said the images typically included a “dad” with their children.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, visit usdoj.gov/psc and click on the resources tab.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Springfield Child Exploitation Task Force. The case was assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Scott.