Date: 07-15-2015

Case Style: United States of America v. William Towner Akers

Case Number: 5:15-cr-00185-FL

Judge: Robert B. Jones, Jr.

Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (Craven County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Ethan A. Ontjes

Defendant's Attorney: Daniel Boyce and Alex Williams

Description: New Bern, NC - Raleigh Man Previously Charged With The Manufacturing Of Child Pornography Pleads Guilty

NEW BERN – United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court today WILLIAM TOWNER AKERS of Raleigh, North Carolina, pled guilty before United States Magistrate Judge Robert B. Jones, Jr., to one count of manufacturing child pornography, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2251(a)and (d).

According to the investigation, On January 5, 2014, a state search warrant was executed at Bailey Joe and Elizabeth Mills’ residence and several laptop computers, external hard drives and cellphones were seized. A subsequent computer forensics examination of the seized items located several homemade videos taken by the Mills. The Mills have previously pled guilty and been sentenced for Manufacturing Child Pornography. The videos show AKERS sexually molesting an eight year old female in August 2013. On March 10, 2015, a federal complaint charging “John Doe aka Peter Gilbert” with conspiracy to manufacture Child Pornography was obtained. AKERS was later identified as the perpetrator and arrested on March 12, 2015 after several tipline callers identified him. AKERS was the IT manager for a company located in Raleigh.

At sentencing, set for the October 2015, term of court AKERS faces up to 30 years imprisonment.

The criminal investigation of this case was conducted by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations – Raleigh, the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office, and the Raleigh Police Department.
This case was part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, a national program aimed at ensuring that criminals exploiting children are effectively prosecuted by making full use of all available law enforcement resources at every level. For more information about this important national project, Project Safe Childhood, go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Outcome: See above

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: