Crime & Safety

Former Highway Patrol Officer Sentenced On Child Porn Charges

Randy Quinn to serve three years in prison.

United States Attorney Bill Nettles announced on Friday that Randy L. Quinn, Jr., age 34, of Seneca, South Carolina, was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Greenville, South Carolina, for possession of child pornography, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A.   

United States District Judge J. Michelle Childs of Greenville sentenced Quinn to three years imprisonment.        

Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that in May 2011 agents with the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Investigations  were conducting an on-line Internet investigation to identify individuals possessing and sharing child pornography in the upstate of South Carolina.

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Agents located a computer on the network sharing approximately 49 files, and of those files, several had file names that indicated they may contain child pornography. 

Agents initiated a download from the files listed for sharing and discovered that the files were indeed child pornography.        

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Based on the IP address of the computer, agents traced the computer to Quinn’s home.  

On June 7, 2011, agents executed the warrant at the house.  Agents seized a laptop computer and found thousands of images of child pornography.

Agents also discovered that Quinn, while on duty at Bike Week in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, photographed unsuspecting minor girls in swimsuits as they played on the beach.         

The case was investigated by agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Investigations.  Assistant United States Attorney Bill Watkins of the Greenville office handled the case.        

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.

Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.


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