Credit: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Mississippi
A Hattiesburg man was sentenced to 211 months in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to court documents, Zane Michael Bonner, 44, was found to be in possession of a cellular telephone at his rehabilitation center residence in Hattiesburg from which forensics recovered over 2,500 visual depictions of child sexual abuse material of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Bonner had a previous conviction for possession of child pornography in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.
Bonner was indicted by a federal grand jury and pled guilty on January 10, 2023 to possession of child pornography.
In addition to his term of imprisonment, Bonner was ordered to pay $11,000 to victims and a $5,000 fine, as well as $5,000 under the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the assistance of the Mississippi Attorney General’s Cyber Crimes Division, and the Forest County Sheriff’s Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Jones prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
