Burlington, Vermont Man Sentenced to 97 Months for Distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Material

BURLINGTON - The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont stated that on July 21, 2026, Stephen Lane, 57, of Burlington, Vermont, was sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Christina Reiss to a term of 97 months' imprisonment to be followed by a 15-year term of supervised release. Chief Judge Reiss also imposed a $10,000 assessment to be paid to the Child Pornography Victims Reserve and a $5,000 assessment to be paid to the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund. Lane previously pleaded guilty to distributing a video of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).

According to court records, between September 26, 2024, and October 9, 2024, defendant Lane corresponded with an undercover U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) special agent, who purported to be a 13-year-old living in Korea with her family. Lane engaged in messaging through social media websites and internet-based platforms, seeking to have the purported teenage girl produce and send CSAM. Army CID coordinated with the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations, who then executed a search warrant at Lane's residence on October 10, 2024. A subsequent review of Lane's electronic devices revealed that Lane was corresponding with multiple people over the internet, seeking media files and/or video chats depicting CSAM involving teenage girls. One of these people indicated they were 17 years old. Lane asked this person to produce CSAM, and during the exchange, sent a 28-second video of a child under the age of 16 exposing herself. Lane was initially charged in Vermont Superior Court. Upon his federal arrest in December 2025, Lane was found to be in violation of his state release conditions, including by using the messaging component of a meditation cellphone application to contact other users who he believed looked like young girls.

First Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt commended the collaborative investigatory efforts of U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, Homeland Security Investigations, and Detectives of the Vermont Attorney General's Office.

The case was prosecuted by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ophardt. Lane was represented by Jessica L. Burke, Esq., and Sara M. Puls, Esq.

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.