BOISE — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (U.S. Attorneys (USAO)), published as received.

BOISE – Kevin Kirkland, 52, of Emmett, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for possession of child sexual abuse material, Acting U.S. Attorney Justin Whatcott announced today.

According to court records, the investigation began when the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force received CyberTip reports from a cloud storage company. A CyberTip is a report submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCMEC gathers leads and tips regarding suspected online crimes against children and forwards them to the appropriate law enforcement agencies. ICAC determined that numerous egregious files of child sexual abuse material had been uploaded to a cloud storage account, later identified as belonging to Kirkland. ICAC seized Kirkland’s cellphone pursuant to a federal search warrant and located additional files of child sexual abuse material.

U.S. District Judge Amanda K. Brailsford also sentenced Kirkland to 15 years of supervised release following his prison sentence and ordered him to pay $24,000 in restitution to victims in the images he possessed. Kirkland will be required to register as a sex offender as a result of the conviction.

“I’m grateful for the continued dedication of our Internet Crimes Against Children Unit and the strong collaboration we have with our federal partners,” said Attorney General Raúl Labrador. “Their tireless work ensures that those who exploit children are brought to justice. Each successful prosecution reaffirms our commitment to protecting Idaho’s most vulnerable and holding offenders fully accountable under the law.”

Acting U.S. Attorney Whatcott commended the cooperative efforts of the Idaho ICAC Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Emmett Police Department, which led to charge. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kassandra McGrady prosecuted the case.

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. As part of Project Safe Childhood, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office partner to marshal federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

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