Oklahoma man gets prison time for child sexual abuse material, Fresno investigation involved

The United States Department of Justice said on Monday that an Oklahoma man was convicted for selling and distributing child sexual abuse material, after an investigation that involved the Homeland Security Investigations office in Fresno.

Court documents show that from March 2018 to August 2019, 36-year-old Austen Peppers of Oklahoma used the dark web and cryptocurrency to sell and offer images of minors being sexually abused. He used platforms and applications that he thought were safe and hidden from law enforcement.

The DOJ also said Peppers had sexually explicit chats with people he thought were minors and asked them to make sexually explicit images of themselves. He collected thousands of images and videos of children being sexually abused.

This case was a result of an investigation by the Homeland Security Investigations officers in Fresno, Chicago, and Oklahoma.

The DOJ said Peppers received a sentence of 21 years and 10 months in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release. He has been in custody since he first appeared in this case on Nov. 14, 2019.