Oshkosh man charged in child pornography sting

Oshkosh+man+charged+in+child+pornography+sting

Sophia Voight, Opinion Editor and Writer

A 51-year-old Oshkosh man is one of 65 people arrested or charged as part of an international investigation to arrest distributors and manufacturers of child pornography.

Martin McKeever was charged with two counts of distributing and one count of possession of child pornography on June 23, according to a Department of Justice press release.

McKeever faces between five to 20 years in federal prison for each distribution charge and up to 10 years for the possession charge, if convicted.

The month-long investigation, dubbed “Operation Kick Boxer,” was led by the Milwaukee Division of the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Wisconsin and the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, according to the FBI news release.

Operation Kick Boxer resulted in dozens of arrests of suspected child sex abusers and distributors of child pornography across the country and in Canada, the United Kingdom, Romania and France.

“Our nation is seeing a disturbing increase in reports of potential child exploitation,” United States Attorney Matthew D. Krueger said in the release. “Operation Kick Boxer shows the Justice Department’s commitment to working with law enforcement partners at all levels to confront child exploitation aggressively.”

Operation Kick Boxer also saved 18 children from sexual exploitation and provided victims with resources to help them reclaim their lives.

“We are pleased to have our federal partners working with us on this priority operation,” Winnebago County Sheriff John Matz said. “We recognize children are the most vulnerable population we serve and protecting them will always be of greatest importance to law enforcement.”