Man who traveled to Idaho to live with teenage girl sentenced to prison
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The following is a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.
BOISE — Mark Eugene Timperley, 21, of Indianapolis, Indiana, was sentenced Monday in United States District Court to 84 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced. Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Timperley to forfeit the cellular phone used in the commission of the charged offense. As a result of his conviction, Timperley will be required to register as a sex offender.
According to the plea agreement, in February 2017, a school resource officer with the Nampa Police Department (NPD), received information that a 14-year-old Nampa student was in an internet relationship with Timperley, and that Timperley intended to travel to Idaho to live with the student. NPD officers viewed the victim’s cell phone, and observed text messages between Timperley and the victim in which Timperley requested and received images of the victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Three days later, NPD detectives encountered Timperley after he exited a Greyhound bus in Boise. Timperley admitted that he was in an online relationship with the victim, that he knew the victim was 14 years old, and that he requested and received sexually explicit images from the victim on his cell phone. NPD detectives seized Timperley’s cell phone, conducted a forensic examination of its contents, and found approximately 46 explicit images of the victim.
“Law enforcement agencies in Idaho are committed to working cooperatively to prosecute those who would seek to sexually exploit children,” said Davis. “I commend the work of law enforcement and prosecutors in this case who acted swiftly and aggressively to protect this child victim from further harm. Mr. Timperley is being appropriately punished for his criminal conduct.”
“Predators who view pornographic images of children fuel the disturbing actions of like-minded criminals who create the illegal content. Both rob the innocence of their victims and leave permanent scars that can never be entirely healed,” said Brad Bench special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Seattle. “This case should send a clear message to those trolling the Internet to victimize children – you will be caught and pay with your freedom for such crimes. HSI will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate these predators and ensure that they feel the full weight of the law.”
The case was investigated by the Nampa Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office, and was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.