Ex-PNSY sailor sentenced to 5+ years for possessing child sex abuse images

PORTLAND, Maine - An Illinois man formerly stationed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was sentenced on Wednesday to almost six years in federal prison for possessing child sexual abuse materials.

Chief U.S. District Judge Jon D. Levy sentenced Zakary Williams, 25, to 70 months in prison and five years of supervised release. In addition, Levy ordered Williams to pay $47,000 in restitution to the victims depicted in some of the images and videos he possessed. Williams pleaded guilty on May 18.

According to court records, in May 2019, Homeland Security Investigations received information from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police regarding Kik Messenger users believed to be in the United States who were uploading child pornography. HSI agents traced one of the uploaded images back to an IP address associated with military housing on the New London Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn.

HSI determined that Williams was the source of that image. In December 2020 agents interviewed Williams at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery where he was then stationed. Williams admitting sharing and viewing child pornography and consented to a search of his cell phone. The investigation revealed that Williams was storing hundreds of images and videos in a cloud-based storage account that depicted the sexual abuse of children. Many of the victims depicted were under the age of 12, and some were infants or toddlers.

HSI investigated the case with the assistance of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).