Louisville City Wire

A Louisville, Kentucky man was sentenced to a total of 11 years and 6 months in federal prison. The sentence included 10 years for possession of child pornography and an additional 1 year and 6 months for violating a previous term of federal supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky and Special Agent in Charge Rana Saoud of Homeland Security Investigations Nashville made the announcement.

According to court documents, William Joseph Popp, 56, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for possessing child pornography after having been previously convicted of possessing child pornography and first-degree sexual abuse of a minor. At the time he committed this offense, Popp was on federal supervised release for a 2014 conviction in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky for possession of child pornography. During his term of supervised release, Popp was found to be in possession of prohibited cellular telephones with internet capabilities that contained searches for and images and videos of child pornography that had been downloaded from the internet. Popp was sentenced to an additional 1 year and 6 months in prison for violating the terms of his supervised release.

There is no parole in the federal system.

This case was investigated by HSI Louisville.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Zimdahl prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

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