Box Elder Man Found Guilty of Receipt and Possession of Child Pornography

The convictions carry a mandatory minimum sentence of five years up to 20 years in federal prison and/or a $250,000 fine, up to life of supervised release, a $5,000 special assessment to the Victims of Trafficking Fund, a $200 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund, and restitution.

Evidence at trial established Golden knowingly received and possessed sexually explicit images of minor females between June 2014 and September 2018.  Golden was arrested in Rapid City in 2018 on a Colorado fugitive warrant for sexual exploitation of a child.  At the time of his arrest, Golden had five devices containing child pornography and multiple devices on which he had installed data shredding applications and other anonymizing software.

The investigation was conducted by the South Dakota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, the Meade County Sheriff’s Office, and members of the Black Hills Fugitive Task Force.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Sazama prosecuted and tried the case.

A sentencing date will be scheduled.  Golden was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending sentencing.