Credit; (Stock image)
TAMPA, FLORIDA – U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven on Tuesday, August, 31, 2021 sentenced Marchaun Browning (24, Gibsonton) to 5 years in federal prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, for distributing and possessing child pornography.
Browning had pleaded guilty on April 21, 2021.
According to court documents, in June 2017, Browning created several Twitter accounts. On several different occasions, he posted or “tweeted” child sex abuse images and tagged other Twitter accounts associated with elected officials, media outlets, and public figures. Browning’s tweets also contained messages directed at the intended and tagged recipients.
On June 18, 2017, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Browning’s residence. The officers discovered more than 160 images and one video depicting the sexual abuse of children, including some as young as toddlers, located on Browning’s devices seized from his residence.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank Murray.
This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, 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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
