Brattleboro Man Indicted on Charges of Receiving, Possessing Child Pornography
The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that David Runnion, 51, of Brattleboro, Vermont, was charged yesterday by a federal grand jury in Rutland with two counts of receiving and two counts of possessing child pornography. He is to be arraigned on the four-count indictment in the coming days. Runnion has been detained pending trial by United States Magistrate Judge John M. Conroy.
Court records indicate that Runnion communicated via email at various times in 2008 with a 15-year-old female who lived in Whitefield, New Hampshire. Runnion and the juvenile met on Craigslist and they corresponded from their computers at their respective homes in Vermont and New Hampshire. In the course of their communications, the juvenile sent Runnion sexually explicit photographs of herself on multiple occasions. Following the execution of a search warrant, these photographs and emails were discovered by law enforcement in Runnion's Yahoo! email account, and some of the images were also found saved to his laptop computer.
The indictment charging Runnion with receiving and possessing child pornography is an accusation only; he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Runnion faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 5 years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each receiving charge, a maximum of 10 years in prison on each possession charge, and up to $250,000 in fines for each charge. The actual sentence, in the event of conviction, will be determined by the Court with reference to the advisory Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
The investigation was a joint effort of the Brattleboro, Vermont and Keene, New Hampshire police departments, with assistance from the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Resident Agent in Charge in Derby Line, Vermont.
Assistant United States Attorney Christina Nolan is handling the prosecution. Runnion is represented by Alison Arms of the Federal Public Defenders Office in Burlington, Vermont.
This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
