PORTLAND, Maine — An Illinois man formerly stationed at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was sentenced Wednesday to more than 5 years in prison for possessing photos and videos depicting child sexual abuse.
Zakary Williams, 25, of Illinois, was sentenced to 70 months in prison and five years supervised release, according to a release from Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheila W. Sawyer.
Chief U.S. District Judge Jon D. Levy also ordered Williams to pay $47,000 in restitution to the victims depicted in some of the photos and video.
In December 2020, federal agents interviewed Williams at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where he was stationed at the time, about child pornography images they had traced to him, Sawyer said.
Homeland Security Investigations had received information from Royal Canadian Mounted Police about Kik Messenger users in the United States who were uploading child pornography and traced one of the images to an IP address associated with military housing at the New London Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Connecticut, and determined Williams was the source.
Williams admitted to sharing and viewing child pornography and consented to a search of his cell phone.
Investigators determined that Williams was storing hundreds of photos and videos in a cloud-based storage account depicting the sexual abuse of children, many of whom were younger than 12, including some who were infants or toddlers, Sawyer said.
Williams pleaded guilty on May 18, 2022.
To report an incident involving the possession, distribution, receipt, or production of child pornography. File a report with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at www.cybertipline.com or 1-800-843-5678. Your report will be forwarded to a law enforcement agency for investigation and action. If you have an emergency that requires an immediate law enforcement response, call 911 or contact your local police or sheriff’s department.
