Crystal Man Arrested on Federal Child Porn Charges

A 59-year-old Crystal man was charged Thursday with possessing approximately 8,000 images of child pornography.

On April 17, 2013, James Richard Darling was charged via an Information with one count of possession of child pornography.

On September 22, 2009, Darling allegedly possessed numerous visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct on his computer.

If convicted, Darling faces a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, with a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years. Any sentence would be determined by a federal district court judge.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Minnesota Child Exploitation Task Force, sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lola Velazquez-Aguilu.

Possession of child pornography is against the law. In addition to prosecuting these cases, the Justice Department is presently funding a study focused on the correlation between involvement in child pornography and hands-on sexual abuse of children. A 2008 study (The Butner Study) published in the Journal of Family Violence found that up to 80 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for possession, receipt, or distribution of child pornography also admitted to hands-on sexual abuse of children, ranging from touching to rape.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (“PSC”), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Information for this story was provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office - Minneapolis.