A Danville man has been sentenced to serve seventeen-and-a-half years in federal prison for receiving and possessing child pornography. U.S. District Judge Colin Bruce handed down the sentence on 52-year-old John Gherna of the 2400 block of Cedar Street.
Gherna had entered guilty pleas in March to charges of receiving child pornography from 2014 to 2016, and to possession of child pornography on June 13, 2016. He has been in custody since his arrest in June of last year.
According to court documents Gherna was already a registered sex offender for a prior conviction for aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor prior to being arrested in the federal case.
The Champaign Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations probed the case. It was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
