BANGOR, Maine — A federal judge sentenced a former Hodgdon resident Thursday to 40 months in prison for possessing pornographic images of children.
U.S. District Court Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. also sentenced Anthonio Dicentes, 38, now of Madison, Florida, to serve five years of supervision following his release from prison. He pleaded guilty to the charge in U.S. District Court in Bangor on Sept. 1, 2017, according to a press release issued Thursday by U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank.
According to court records, between June 2009 and September 2015, Dicentes possessed image files depicting child pornography that were “purposefully and repeatedly downloaded from the internet.” Included in the images was at least one involving a child under the age of 12.
The investigation was conducted by members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit and the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office. The case was brought to court as part of the “Project Safe Childhood,” a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse that was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Frank said in the release.
Led by U.S. Attorneys’ offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity section of the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood uses 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, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
