Billings Man Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison for Possessing Child Pornography

A Billings man who possessed and traded child pornography was sentenced today to 10 years in prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He was also ordered to pay $22,000 in special assessments to the United States Nathan Allen Sayler, 48, pleaded guilty in April 2024 to possession of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided. The government alleged in court documents that in September 2020 law enforcement in Texas arrested an individual who was exchanging child pornography on social media with someone in Montana. His social media accounts were reviewed, and law enforcement learned after an extensive investigation that the person in Montana was Sayler. Because Sayler was a convicted sex offender, law enforcement conducted a probation search of his house and interviewed him. Sayler denied using the cell phone associated with the social media account trading child pornography, which was never found by the authorities. But Sayler later admitted to another witness that he was in possession of the phone during the search and discarded it after law enforcement left his residence. In January 2024, agents executed a search warrant on Sayler’s Gmail accounts and discovered images of child pornography on one of them. The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation. 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 U.S. Attorneys' Offices and 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.