Acting United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Richard E. Tripp, 71, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was found guilty today by a jury in federal court in Lincoln. Tripp was convicted of one count of possession of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. Sentencing has been set for November 9, 2023, at 1 p.m. before Senior United States District Judge John M. Gerrard. Tripp faces a minimum of 15 years and up to 40 years in prison for the distribution count. For the possession count, Tripp faces a minimum of 10 years and up to 20 years in prison.
Imgur, LLC reported uploads of 38 suspected child pornography image files to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). In turn, NCMEC issued Cybertipline Reports to investigators with the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, an investigative unit of the Nebraska State Patrol. Based upon information provided in the Cybertipline Reports, investigators were able to determine that the images were uploaded to the Internet from Tripp’s residence in Lincoln, where he was living with two registered sex offenders. After examining his devices, investigators found more than 1,400 files containing child pornography involving prepubescent children, toddlers, and infants. Some of the children depicted in the image files were subjected to bondage, and some were subjected to bestiality.
Tripp is a registered sex offender, convicted of two counts of sexual assault of a child in the first degree in 2007. There were two victims involved in the 2007 case.
This case was investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol.