Date: 04-24-2015

Case Style: United States of America v. David Larry Rasmussen

Case Number: 0:13-cr-00134-DSD-TNL

Judge:

Court: United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (Hennepin County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: James S Alexander

Defendant's Attorney: ames S Becker - FPD

Description: Minneapolis, MN - DAVID LARRY RASMUSSEN, 42, to 204 months in federal prison for production of child pornography. RASMUSSEN was indicted on May 21, 2013, and pleaded guilty on March 11, 2013, to three counts of Production of Child Pornography. The defendant was sentenced today before Judge David S. Doty in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Minn.

According to the defendant’s guilty plea and documents filed in court, RASMUSSEN produced and traded child pornography images and videos on-line. He took pictures of three children, ages 4, 3, and one and a half, in their homes and in his own home in Mountain Lake, Minn. On October 27, 2012, RASMUSSEN’S computers were seized by the Mountain Lake Police Department. Law enforcement conducted a search of the computers and found thousands of images and videos of prepubescent children subjected to sexual penetration, and included bondage and violent materials.

In a sentencing position filed with the court, the federal prosecutor argued for a significant sentence: He argued that RASMUSSEN “victimized the children of neighbors who trusted him in order to produce and distribute child pornography for the sexual gratification of himself and his friends” and that RASMUSSEN also “stored and distributed an astonishing amount of child pornography depicting the rape and torture of children.”

RASMUSSEN has been in custody since he was arrested on the federal charges on May 28, 2013. Prior to that, Rasmussen had been facing state charges.

This case resulted from an investigation conducted by the Mountain Lake Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Calhoun-Lopez.

Production and distribution of child pornography is against the law. In addition to prosecuting these cases, the Justice Department is presently funding a study focused on the correlation between involvement in child pornography and hands-on sexual abuse of children. A 2008 study (The Butner Study) published in the Journal of Family Violence found that up to 80 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for possession, receipt, or distribution of child pornography also admitted to hands-on sexual abuse of children, ranging from touching to rape.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children while identifying and rescuing victims. For more information about PSC, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/resources.html and click on the tab “resources.”

Outcome: See above

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: