This article was originally published by Jacob Scholl in the Idaho Statesman.
A Nampa man will spend the next several years in prison after he was sentenced Thursday for possessing child pornography.
Cameron Benjamin, 22, will spend a little over eight years — 97 months — in a federal prison after pleading guilty to one charge of possession of child pornography on Aug. 17. Benjamin also will serve 15 years of supervised release once his prison sentence is completed, according to a news release from the Idaho U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He must pay $6,000 in restitution to the victims involved and pay a $5,100 special assessment. Benjamin will be required to register as a sex offender.
Benjamin was arrested in February after being under investigation for several months by state authorities. Members of the Idaho Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force started investigating in December 2019 after receiving tips that an account on Twitter had uploaded child porn to five accounts.
Investigators later found that the accounts belonged to Benjamin, and after obtaining a search warrant, they found roughly 70 images of sexually exploitative material on the accounts. Police later searched Benjamin’s Nampa home, where they found more images on his cellphone.
Charges were brought forward with the help of the Nampa Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the release said.
If you or someone you know has information regarding the sexual exploitation of children, contact local police, the Attorney General’s ICAC unit at 208-947-8700, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678.
