BOISE – Zane Beckman, 29, of Boise, was sentenced to 360 months in federal prison for producing child pornography, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced today.
According to court records, the investigation began in April of 2020, when the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (“ICAC”) Task Force received a report that Beckman had communicated online with a 10-year-old child in Texas and solicited explicit images from her.
In August 2020, ICAC, and other members of law enforcement, executed a federal search warrant at Beckman’s Boise residence and seized his electronic devices. On his cellphone, ICAC located explicit images of a 4-year-old child and an 8-year-old child that Beckman had produced at his Boise residence. ICAC also located evidence that Beckman had communicated online with other minors and had solicited, and received, explicit images from them. ICAC located hundreds of other images of child pornography on Beckman’s cell phone and other electronic devices.
Chief United States District Judge David C. Nye also ordered Beckman to serve a lifetime term of supervised release following his prison sentence, to forfeit the electronic devices that were used to commit the offense, and to pay $69,053.12 in restitution to the victims in the images he produced and possessed. Beckman also paid $68,000 in lieu of forfeiture of his residence. As a result of the conviction, Beckman will be required to register as a sex offender.
“This sentence sends the message that significant time in federal prison awaits those who produce, distribute, or possess child pornography,” U.S. Attorney Hurwit said. “We will continue to vigorously pursue anyone involved in these crimes. And this case highlights the importance of the partnership between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in rooting out this evil and
protecting our children.”
U.S. Attorney Hurwit, of the District of Idaho, commended the cooperative efforts of the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Postal Inspection Service, Boise Police Department, and Garland Police Department in Texas which led to charges.