Juneau man convicted on federal child porn charge

A Juneau man could be sentenced at least 15 years in prison after a federal jury convicted him Friday in the receipt of child pornography. 

In a news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Alaska announced that Jim Wayne Thornhill, 40, was found guilty of the child pornography charge after a three-day trial in U.S. District Court in Juneau. 

A sentencing hearing is set for Nov. 30. 

Thornhill could face up to 40 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a lifetime on supervised release.  

According to the news release, this case began when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Internet Crimes Against Children forwarded a report of harm to the Juneau Police Department.  

The FBI interviewed Thornhill as a person of interest in October 2015. 

Thornhill’s employer located a cell phone and handwritten lists of search terms and Internet addresses associated with child pornography.  

The FBI interviewed Thornhill again that month, and this time he admitted writing the lists, owning the cell phone and accessing the internet with the phone between September and November 2015. He had initially denied having a cell phone.  

The release said he claimed he was looking for adult and child pornography that were “just naked kids.” 

Through a search warrant, the FBI found at least 100 downloaded images of child pornography on Thornhill’s cell phone.  

This is Thornhill’s second conviction as a sex offender. He was convicted in 2007 in state court for second-degree sexual abuse of a minor.

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