MySpace sex offender gets life in prison

GRANITE CITY, Ill., July 19 (UPI) -- An Illinois man whose arrest stemmed from an inquiry into sex offenders using MySpace got a life sentence for child porn and other offenses, prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors said they asked MySpace to look at its members to search for sex offenders, and when the name Carl Courtright III turned up, they looked at his profile and got a warrant to search his Granite City home.

There, investigators found evidence Courtright had taken photos of a young girl engaged in sexually explicit acts and downloaded photos and videos of children, some showing the children being raped, prosecutors said.

He also took part in a bank-fraud scheme involving production of counterfeit checks he deposited into a bank account as "donations" to a ministry he maintains, prosecutors said.

Courtright was sentenced Friday to life plus 10 years.

A federal jury convicted Courtright in March of one count of production of child pornography, two counts of possession of child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of bank fraud.

The case against him was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide effort to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse through the Internet.