SEATTLE — A former sailor aboard the USS Lincoln was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison for possession of child pornography.
Billy Wayne Welch, 44, of Arlington, was a senior aviation ordnance chief about the Lincoln when he traded child pornography with a suspect in Florida, according to prosecutors with U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement caught up with Welch during an investigation into people using an online chat program to trade pornographic images. Investigators raided Welch’s home and his quarters aboard the Lincoln and discovered 16,000 images and 600 videos of child pornography on his computer equipment.
Welch, who’d served 26 years in the Navy, was arrested in December. He pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in March.
Chief U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik told Welch that each time someone views child pornography, the minor is again victimized.
The investigation was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative meant to apprehend and prosecute people who use the Internet to exploit and abuse children.
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