Trigger Warning: Child Sexual Abuse Material
Navy Sailor Pleads Guilty to Possessing Illicit Images, Videos of Children
NORFOLK, Va. – Zachary Allen Idzenga, 37, was convicted on Wednesday of six counts of possessing child pornography after a cyber tip from his cell phone company alerted authorities to the presence of child sexual abuse material on his device.
On Jan. 16, 2023, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received a cyber tip from Mr. Idzenga’s cell phone company’s cloud storage service that Mr. Idzenga was saving child sexual abuse content. NCMEC alerted New York State Police, based on Mr. Idzenga’s area code, who secured and executed a search warrant for Mr. Idzenga’s information from the cell phone company. When NYSP discovered Mr. Idzenga was in the Navy and stationed in Norfolk, the case was assigned to a Norfolk Police Department investigator. In an interview with Norfolk Police and NCIS, Mr. Idzenga confessed having searched for and downloaded over 1,000 images and videos within the preceding year containing child sexual abuse material from a social media site.
On Wednesday, Mr. Idzenga pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography in a first offense and to five subsequent counts of possessing child pornography. Judge Jamilah D. LeCruise accepted Mr. Idzenga’s plea with no agreement to his sentence, and he is docketed for sentencing on May 24.
“People who seek out and share child sexual abuse material revictimize children, because the images of child sexual abuse can live forever,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “For the protection of past and potential future victims, we must hold accountable the people who fuel this morally indefensible trade.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie G. Johnson is prosecuting Mr. Idzenga’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth, and Norfolk Police Sergeant David A. Benjamin led the investigation.
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