Lincoln Man Sentenced to 7 Years for Receipt of Child Pornography

United States Attorney Lesley A. Woods announced that Nicholas Vollertsen, 41, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was sentenced on July 30, 2026, in federal court in Lincoln for one count of receipt of child pornography. United States District Judge Susan M. Bazis sentenced Vollertsen to a total of 84 months' imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After Vollertsen's release from prison, he will begin a 5-year term of supervised release. Vollertsen was ordered to pay $21,000 in restitution.

This case began when several cybertips were made online regarding an online cloud storage company. The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) received a search warrant for the online account. The return contained 111 files of child pornography, which depicted images and videos of prepubescent and pubescent children engaged in sexual acts. After further investigation, law enforcement was able to identify Vollertsen as the suspect for the case. NSP conducted a search warrant at Vollertsen's residence, where they seized approximately 32 electronic devices. Those devices were extracted and reviewed by law enforcement. At least nine of the devices contained child pornography files. The total number of child pornography files located on Vollertsen's devices was 189,805.

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 United States 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.

This case was investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol.