On January 16, 2020 Joseph Nolan, 51, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for sexually exploiting a minor in Peoria, AZ.
Joseph pleaded guilty to two felony counts, each involving an image of a girl whom doctors estimated to be less than 13-years-old.
In March 2016, Department of Homeland Security special agents in Tucson, AZ identified a computer from the Phoenix, AZ metropolitan area that was sharing video files containing graphic depictions of child sexual exploitation online through a peer-to-peer file trading network.
Agents traced the computer to an apartment in Peoria, and passed the tip to the Phoenix Department of Homeland Security Office for follow up. Agents tracked Joseph to a second apartment in Peoria, where they executed a search warrant on November 3, 2016, which is when he was arrested.
In a post-arrest interview, Joseph admitted he lived alone in the first apartment during the time that the Tucson-based agents downloaded the exploitative images from his computer. Agents searching Joseph’s apartment located a Toshiba laptop and two external storage drives, upon which forensic analysis later found images and videos of child sexual exploitation.
Analysis also showed the peer-to-peer file sharing software had been installed on the computer during the time that the Tucson-based agents were downloading images from his computer.
Joseph will begin a term of lifetime probation upon his release from the Arizona Department of Corrections in approximately September of 2030. Joseph must also register as a sex offender.
