Felon Pleads Guilty To ‘Staggering’ Amount of Child Porn: Feds

CHICAGO — A 36-year-old man has been sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of sharing child pornography. Prosecutors said he shared several pictures and videos on Chatstep, an anonymous online chat room.

Benny Lee Butler, of Chicago, was also arrested in 2012 and 2013 and accused of impersonating a police officer while attempting to lure children between ages 10 and 14 into his car. He was sentenced to time served in 2012, but broke his probation in 2013 when he impersonated a U.S. Air Force officer, which police said he did in order to talk to children at Navy Pier.

Using his IP address, authorities tracked Butler to his Englewood home, where they found SD cards containing more than 2,800 sexually explicit videos and over 7,600 pornographic images of children, some as young as 9 years old, court documents detailed.

While Butler's lawyers asked for eight years imprisonment with eight years of court-supervised release, District Judge Andrea R. Wood sentenced Butler to 15 years and eight months in federal prison with 20 following years of court supervised release. Butler will also be required to pay $47,000 in restitution to the children depicted in the pornographic materials he pleaded guilty to sharing. While police said they are not able to identify all the children, Butler will still need to pay those who can be identified.

"It is impossible to overstate the seriousness of defendant’s conduct and the need for just punishment," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley A. Chung argued in the government's sentencing memorandum. "Defendant not only possessed a staggering amount of child pornography, but also distributed, downloaded, and traded child pornography with others online."

Butler's lawyers said during his initial hearing that he always had a fascination and respect for law enforcement officers, possibly leading him to dress like them.