Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A district court judge today convicted a local tax preparer and Franconia museum guide of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) over multiple years.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, in December of 2022, law enforcement began an undercover investigation into a user who was requesting CSAM files on the peer-to-peer file sharing network, Freenet. Further investigation revealed that the user was Nathaniel Carey Lee, 39, of Springfield. In June of 2024, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed a search warrant and seized multiple devices which were later found to contain a large volume of images and videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In an interview with law enforcement, Lee admitted to possessing approximately 4 million images of CSAM and/or child erotica.
Following a bench trial, Lee was convicted on two counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6, 2027. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Trial Attorney Nadia Prinz of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith Clement for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.
The HSI Washington, DC Field Office investigated 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 epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals 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.justice.gov/psc.