News Release Unites States Attorney-Omaha
United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that Charles Ryan Croney, age 26, of Missouri, was sentenced in federal court on April 1, 2022, in Omaha, Nebraska, for distribution of child pornography. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Croney to 100 months of imprisonment and ordered him to pay $36,000 in restitution. There is no parole in the federal system. After completing his term of imprisonment, Croney will begin a 7-year term of supervised release.
On January 1, 2020, Croney uploaded two images of child pornography to an online chat group. On January 30, 2020, a federal search warrant was executed where Croney was temporarily residing in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Agents obtained Croney’s cellular phone and located about 400 images of child pornography. Agents later searched Croney’s online Discord account and located additional child pornography.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The case was investigated by the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.