LOS ANGELES – A Riverside resident has pled guilty to possessing child pornography and now faces a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence in federal prison.

James Gregory O'Neill, 58, of Riverside pleaded guilty on Monday, January 25 before United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner to possession of child pornography.

Because O'Neill has twice before been convicted of possessing child pornography, he will face a 10-year mandatory minimum prison term – and could be sentenced to as much as 20 years – when he is sentenced on April 18.

“Despite being convicted twice previously for possessing child pornography, Mr. O'Neill continued to victimize children by creating a market for child pornography,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “It is one of the highest priorities of my office to prosecute those who would seek to victimize children, and in particular those who do so repeatedly.”

O'Neill pleaded guilty to possessing an SD memory card containing as many as 97 images of child pornography which he accessed on his cellphone. He possessed the memory card despite his convictions in 2003 in federal court for possessing child pornography – for which he was sentenced to 40 months in prison – and in 2011 in Riverside County Superior Court.

The case against O'Neill was investigated by the Riverside Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.

CONTACT: Assistant United States Attorney Puneet V. Kakkar Riverside Branch Office

Central District of California DOJ / Release No. 16-016 / January 30, 2016