A Georgia man with a history of possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) has been sentenced to further prison time following a recent conviction for the same offense. Clarence L. Brown, II, 46, of Byron, Georgia, was handed a 120-month sentence by U.S. District Judge Marc T. Treadwell on Wednesday, as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice. After finishing his prison term, he faces ten years of supervised release and is mandated to register as a sex offender.
Having already served time for similar crimes, Brown violated the terms of his federal supervised release, imposed after a 2017 conviction, when he was caught downloading CSAM less than a year following his release from prison, according to court documents and statements. Caught in the act by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agents, Brown's supervised release was revoked, which was sentenced possessing and receiving child pornography, and he now faces an additional consecutive ten-month sentence on top of the already substantial one.
"Viewing and sharing explicit images of children being sexually abused is a federal crime that our office will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law," Acting U.S. Attorney C. Shanelle Booker emphasized in a remark that underlined the federal government's no-tolerance stance against such predatory actions. "Holding online child predators accountable for their crimes—and in this case, their repeated crimes against children—is a high priority for our federal prosecutors and the local, state and federal law enforcement partners dedicated to protecting children," she added, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
GBI Director Chris Hosey stated, while a tragic reminder of the determination of those preying on the innocent, "Clarence L. Brown's actions are," continuing, "The GBI remains committed to investigating and bringing to justice those who possess and distribute child sexual abuse material. We will continue to work alongside our state, federal and local law enforcement partners to protect children from these heinous crimes and hold offenders accountable,” as referenced by U.S. Department of Justice.
The case, part of the nationwide initiative Project Safe Childhood, spearheads the fight against the child sexual exploitation epidemic. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the DOJ, it unites various governmental tiers to tackle child exploitation. Brown's case was handled by the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit (CECCU), with assistance from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Monica Daniels.
