HSI, local law enforcement probe results in 240-month prison sentence for Omaha man guilty of distributing child exploitation material

OMAHA, Neb. – Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Kansas City Taekuk Cho and United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Gregory Lukassen, 50, of Omaha, was sentenced in federal court in Omaha for distribution and receipt of child pornography, Jan. 5, following joint HSI investigation.

Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Lukassen to 240 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal prison system. After his release from prison, Lukassen will serve five years of supervised release. Lukassen was also ordered to pay $12,000 in restitution.

In October 2022, Lukassen was found guilty after a two-day jury trial. The evidence at trial showed that officers contacted Lukassen at a residence in Bellevue after receiving cyber tip reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) indicating that online service providers had reported uploads of child pornography. Lukassen admitted to chatting online regarding sexual fantasies and claimed to have received child pornography unintentionally during those chats. Forensic examinations of devices seized from Lukassen showed cache or thumbnail files of at least 38 unique images of child pornography on the devices, including some of the images reported in the cyber tips.

This case was investigated by HSI and the Bellevue Police Department.

Learn more about HSI’s mission to combat child exploitation in your community on Twitter @HSIKansasCity.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

HSI is a directorate of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 6,800 special agents assigned to 225 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.