Corinth Man Sentenced for Trafficking Child Exploitation Materials from the Dark Web

OXFORD, Miss. - A Corinth, Mississippi man was sentenced today by Senior District Judge Michael P. Mills, to 10 years in prison for transporting images and videos of children under 12 and engaging in sexually explicit conduct from the dark web to an online cloud storage.

According to court documents, Zachary "Zach" Alan Little, 36, was found with almost 4,000 child sexual abuse files. Many of the images and videos portrayed children between 7 and 10 years old.

In addition to his prison term, Little was sentenced to five years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender where he lives, where he works, and where he is a student.

U.S. Attorney Scott Leary of the Northern District of Mississippi, FBI SAC Robert Eikhoff, and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch made the announcement. The FBI and the Mississippi Attorney General's Office were involved in the investigation of the case.

U.S. Attorney Leary said, "I am honored to work with such dedicated law enforcement officers, while at the same time angered that we continually face such crimes. Understanding that we have small children being victimized in this case, society must respond. These child exploitation cases are heartbreaking. It takes extremely dedicated and professional agents to work these investigations, and that is what we have in Mississippi. Child exploitation cases are growing in complexity and proliferation. Thank goodness we have officers and prosecutors that can carry the load. Excellent job FBI and Mississippi Attorney General's office, perhaps one day these type cases will be outliers rather than common."

Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jackson Field Office Robert Eikhoff stated, "There is absolutely no place in our communities for individuals who prey on children. Little's exploitation of our youth is a profoundly egregious crime, and it will not be tolerated under any circumstance. The FBI, together with our federal and state law enforcement partners, is unwavering in its commitment to identify and bring to justice anyone who seeks to rob our minors of their innocence."

"Predators who exploit children will be held accountable for their crimes," said Attorney General Lynn Fitch. "The young children depicted in the thousands of images recovered in this case are revictimized every time one of those images is shared or viewed. I am grateful to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the partnership that secured this sentence. Together, we are making Mississippi a safer place for all children."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Parker S. King prosecuted the case as part of Project Safe Childhood.

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 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 Justice.gov/PSC.