A federal employee has been sentenced to prison for accessing child pornography images while he was stationed aboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientific research vessel.
According to the Justice Department, decorated veteran Johnny Dale Hale was working as a crew member aboard the Bell M. Shimada, a NOAA scientific research vessel. On or about November 15, 2016, the vessel’s information technology team began running diagnostics to troubleshoot connectivity issues that the vessel was experiencing. During those diagnostics, a technician discovered two new folders on the ship’s server containing what he believed to be child pornography.
Further investigation showed that Hale’s unique employee access card was associated with the time and date the folders were initially accessed. Additionally, Hale used two different vessel workstations to access the server at the exact time the folders were created.
Special agents and a forensic analyst reviewed the suspect folders and discovered 109 pornographic web links and confirmed the presence of child pornography. Approximately 33 images of child pornography were in one of the suspect folders, with images from at least four series of photographs of previously-identified child pornography victims.
Hale was indicted in June 2017 by a federal grand jury charging him with possession of child pornography, and on April 23, 2021, he pleaded guilty to that charge.
Hale was sentenced to 24 months in prison and five years’ supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution to his victims.
