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TALLAHASSEE, FL – R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum; and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge for the Miami Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation today announced a Washington State defendant has been sentenced to 27 years in prison on federal charges related to child pornography. Richard Grass was sentenced last night by U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks for the Southern District of Florida. In addition to his prison sentence, Grass must also serve five years of supervised release.

Grass, 56, pleaded guilty in October to federal charges of transporting child pornography and attempting to transport obscene material to a minor. He was arrested last July after he contacted an undercover investigator with Attorney General McCollum’s CyberCrime Unit in an internet chatroom. The undercover investigator was monitoring the chatroom, which is well-known in the law enforcement community as a forum for persons interested in child pornography and pedophilia, when he received an unsolicited message from Grass, who believed he was talking to a 15-year old girl. During several online conversations with the investigator, Grass electronically sent him multiple still and video images of child pornography, including some images of children under the age of 12 having sexual intercourse with, or performing oral sex on adult men. In addition to sending the images, Grass also masturbated for the “child” using his web cam.

The CyberCrime investigator discovered that Grass was also sending child pornography to an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Division, to an investigator with the Sturgeon Bay Police Department in Wisconsin, and to a U.S. Naval Criminal investigator located in the State of Washington. During his chats with these investigators, Grass encouraged the travel of children so he could have sexual encounters with them and spoke about having had sexual intercourse with young children, including a 14-year-old girl. Grass also admitted he had created many of the images of child pornography he had already sent to the investigators.

After Grass’ arrest, the Florida Attorney General’s CyberCrime Unit conducted a forensic examination of Grass’ computer which revealed numerous video and still images of child pornography, including a video of a young girl in bondage. Grass’ criminal history includes a series of convictions for indecent exposure. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Marlene Rodriguez. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.