Former Pima County Justice Court Employee Sentenced For Child Pornography

justice court
(Photo by Tim Evanson/Creative Commons)

Daniel Courville, a former Pima County Justice Court employee, was sentenced last week to nearly six years in prison after he was found guilty in August 2018 in federal court of knowing access with intent to view child pornography depicting pre-pubescent minors.

Courville faced a sentence of up to 20 years’ imprisonment. The sentence was handed down by Judge Cindy Jorgenson.

Courville, 43, of Tucson, was indicted by a federal grand jury March 23, 2017.

The Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Tucson began the investigation in May 2015 when HSI special agents received a lead from the HSI Cyber Crimes Center’s Child Exploitation Investigations Unit concerning individuals who had downloaded child exploitation images from a server that been seized by the Municipal Police of Zurich, Switzerland.

Police officers analyzed the server and identified numerous internet protocol addresses (IP) in the United States, of which one lead special agents to Courville’s residence. A federal search warrant was subsequently served resulting in the seizure of several digital media components of which HSI special agents discovered more than 200 videos and images of child pornography that Courville attempted to delete using software designed to overwrite data in unallocated space.

Courville testified on his own behalf at a bench trial that began July 30, 2018. The following day, Judge Jorgenson found Courville guilty of knowingly accessing child pornography as charged in the indictment. Courville was immediately remanded into custody to begin serving his sentence. The court also ordered a lifetime supervised release.

A separate hearing to determine victim restitution will occur in the next 90 days.

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