A Las Vegas resident who admitted to receiving and distributing child pornography over Kik Messenger with other users was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan to eight years in federal prison to be followed by lifetime supervised release, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich for the District of Nevada.
Dustin Randall, 25, pleaded guilty in December 2019 to one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. In addition to the terms of imprisonment and supervised release, Randall will be required to register as a sex offender and comply with all requirements under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, as well as follow applicable registration requirements imposed by state law.
According to court documents, between June 10 and 12, 2017, Randall — using Kik user account “dustinwr31” — traded numerous child pornography files with another Kik user, “funnseeker24.” Funnseeker24 sent Randall five cloud storage links containing hundreds of images and videos of child pornography, and Randall sent Funnseeker24 two links containing over a hundred files of child pornography.
The charges resulted from an investigation by the FBI's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bianca Pucci and Christopher Burton 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. 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, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.
