BENTON — Two southern Illinois residents were charged and appeared in Federal Court Wednesday on child pornography offenses which are alleged to have occurred in Jackson and Richland Counties.
Joseph R. Washburn, 33, of Murphysboro, and 46-year-old Thomas C. Fulk, 46, of Olney, were charged in separate cases with using a computer to access and download child pornography images from the internet.
If convicted, each person faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release.
The investigation in the Washburn case was conducted by the Secret Service Southern Illinois Cyber Crimes Task Force, The United States Marshals Service, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, the Benton Police Department, and the Murphysboro Police Department.
The investigation in the Fulk case was conducted by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, the Richland County State’s Attorney, the Illinois State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.