COEUR d'ALENE - A 50-year-old Athol man was sentenced this week to three years in prison for possessing images of naked children bound by ropes, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

Samuel T. Ussery was sentenced for transportation of an obscene matter, and U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge also ordered Ussery to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.

Ussery pleaded guilty to the charge on Jan. 3.

According to court documents, in July 2010, an officer with the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force developed information that a computer at a residence in Athol possessed the images.

Task force officers prepared and executed a federal search warrant at the residence in September 2010.

Although Ussery had deleted his computer hard drive prior to the officers' entry, a U.S. Secret Service forensic examiner recovered evidence that such images had been on Ussery's computer.

The case was investigated by the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which is comprised of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in Idaho.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Led by the U.S. attorneys' offices and the criminal division's child exploitation and obscenity section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.