Wallace man sentenced to 30 years for producing child porn

    Richard L. Moore, 67, formerly of Wallace, was sentenced Jan. 13 in Lincoln by United States District Judge John M. Gerrard for production of child pornography.
    Moore was sentenced to 30 years in prison and will also spend the remainder of his life on supervised release after that period of incarceration, said U.S. Attorney Jan Sharp.
    There is no parole in the federal system.  
    After serving his prison sentence, Moore will also be required to register as a sex offender.
    Additionally, Moore was ordered to pay restitution of more than $100,000. The federal sentence was ordered to run concurrent with the 25 to 35-year sentence previously imposed by the Lincoln County District Court for his state conviction.
     In October 2019, a report was received by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office that Moore had engaged in and produced images of sexually explicit conduct involving two minor children. The children had reported the abuse to their parents, according to the release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.  
    Subsequent interviews with the minor children confirmed the sexual conduct had occurred and Moore was identified as the perpetrator.
     On Oct. 18, 2019 the Perkins County Sheriff and members of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant at Moore’s residence.
    During the search warrant, law enforcement found multiple devices used to reproduce both video and digital images; five monitors connected to a single system; at least five external hard drives with a total capacity of 36 terabytes; and a substantial collection of VHS and digitally-stored pornography.
    Forensic examination determined a minimum of 48,000 images and 84 videos of child pornography found on the computers and storage media located at the defendant’s residence, according to the news release.  
    The sheer volume of the data located at Moore’s residence renders a more accurate count virtually impossible, the news release added.
    This case was investigated by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Perkins County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
     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 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.