Friday, March 20, 2009

Eric Lee Spiwak - Repeat Sex Offender - Gets off easy with only 15 years

Because of his prior convictions for indecent liberties, Mr. Spiwak faced up to 20 years imprisonment followed by a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.




A Carteret County man who pleaded guilty in October in federal court to a possession of child pornography charge has now been sentenced to prison time for the crime.
Eric Lee Spiwak, 61, of Newport was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle to 188 months imprisonment followed by a lifetime of supervised release for possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

A federal grand jury indicted Spiwak on July 23, 2008, and he pleaded guilty in the case on Oct. 6, 2008.

The case is part of Project Safe Childhood initiative, a national program aimed at ensuring criminals exploiting children are effectively prosecuted by making full use of available resources.

"We are proud of the Project Safe Childhood initiative as it gives us the ability to prosecute cases such as this to its fullest extent. Sadly, these cases are growing in number; however, we do know that we are stopping further crimes of this nature to occur," U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding stated via a news release.

The conviction against Spiwak came after several zipdrive computer discs containing child pornography were seized from his home. Forensic analysis of the discs revealed 460 images of either child pornography or child erotica.

The search warrant executed at Spiwak's home followed his arrest on a related incident via the Internet in which he had several sexually explicit conversations with a Guilford County Sheriff's detective who was posing as a 14-year-old girl.

On Sept. 8, 2006, Spiwak traveled from Newport to Greensboro with the intent to engage in illegal sexual conduct with the minor and was arrested when he arrived at the location agreed to in the conversations.


Investigation of the Spiwak case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and the Guilford County Sheriff's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Ontjes served as prosecutor for the government.

“25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years”
………Sarah Tofte

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