A 50-year-old registered sex offender from Brevard County has been sentenced to a decade in federal prison after a search of his computer revealed hundreds of images depicting the sexual abuse of infants and young children.
On Friday, Richard W. Mills was sentenced to 10 years behind bars and a lifetime of supervision for possession of child sexual abuse material. The court also ordered Mills to forfeit a computer and hard drive, which were used “in furtherance of the commission of the offense,” and he must also pay restitution in the amount of $12,000.
Mills pleaded guilty on April 16, 2024.
According to court records, Mills was convicted in the U.S. District Court in Orlando on November 20, 2014, for possession of child pornography charges. He was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in federal prison, which was to then be followed by a 5-year term of supervised release.
On November 13, 2019, Mills was released from prison after serving his term, and his federal supervised release began on the same day.
Nearly four years later, on November 2, 2023, probation officers made an unannounced visit to Mills’ place of employment following a complaint from a citizen. Upon arrival, the officers confiscated a mobile device belonging to Mills to “ensure compliance with the special condition of his supervised release.”
Under the terms of his supervised release, Mills is prohibited from possessing or using a computer with access to online services at any location without approval from his probation officer.
An investigation into Mills was launched by the probation officers, and his home was also inspected. Inside the residence, the officers discovered that Mills also had a smartphone and laptop computer.
After obtaining a federal search warrant, investigators learned that the hard drive from Mills’ laptop contained approximately 330 tagged thumbnail images, as well as one video, that “clearly depicted the sexual abuse of infants and young children.”
Upon completion of Mills’ 10-year prison sentence, he will spend an additional six months behind bars for violating the terms of his supervised release.
This case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ilianys Rivera Miranda.
Additionally, this is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.