United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Gerry Lee Peirce, 55, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was sentenced today in Lincoln, Nebraska, to 70 months in prison by United States District Judge John M. Gerrard, for receiving child pornography. After his release from prison, Peirce will also be required to register as a sex offender and complete seven years of supervised release.

On September 9, 2014, a Task Force Officer operating in an undercover capacity, encountered a user, later determined to be Peirce, in a website chat room where Peirce had posted a link that led to a storage account containing child exploitation material. When law enforcement clicked on the link, they observed a total of 165 files in the account, 113 of which contained child pornography.

After identifying the subscriber information, officers executed a search warrant on the residence of Peirce. Peirce confessed to accessing child porn through the Internet and then distributing the links of the child porn sites and files to others.

In all, investigators found 69 videos of child porn on the computer, along with other images of child erotica that had been received and distributed.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of 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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Two people have pleaded not guilty in the shooting death of a man in a Lincoln alley.

21-year-old Tiffany Welch made her plea as she was arraigned Wednesday in Lancaster County District Court. Twenty-five-year-old Matthew Pavey entered his pleas last week. Both are charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of 27-year-old James Carr. Pavey also faces weapons charges.

No trial date has been set for either Welch or Pavey.

Police say Carr was found dead in the alley Jan. 4. Authorities say Welch lured Carr to the location where he was fatally shot by Pavey.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Three Iowa child sex cases against a Nebraska jail officer have been consolidated.

Shawn Beu has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography. His trial is scheduled to begin June 1 in Pottawattamie County District Court. A judge has barred most of the court documents from public scrutiny.

Beu was arrested on warrants after a search of his Council Bluffs home. He’s a corrections sergeant at the Douglas County Jail in Omaha. A spokesman for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately return a call Friday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has heard oral arguments for a case at a downtown Omaha high school.

About 150 Central High School students, mostly from Advanced Placement government or business law classes, attended the arguments in the school’s auditorium Thursday.

The state Supreme Court regularly travels to Nebraska’s two law schools, but this visit was the first time the court heard arguments at a high school.

The case they heard involves three children whose stepfather wants to adopt them. The children’s biological father is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted of sexually assaulting the oldest daughter.

The biological father didn’t consent to the adoption, and the mother and stepfather asked a Lincoln County Court judge to terminate his parental rights in 2014.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Hall County filed by a man who wanted to open a strip club near Grand Island in south-central Nebraska.

U.S. District Judge John Gerrard dismissed the lawsuit Thursday, in part because Shane Harrington didn’t have an ownership interest in property affected by Hall County ordinances.

Last May Harrington sued opponents to his plan and the Hall County Board of Supervisors, seeking $110 million. Harrington alleged defamation, interference with business relationships, antitrust violations and constitutional violations regarding free speech, equal protection and due process. He also sought a judgment against restrictions for sexual-oriented businesses in the Hall County zoning resolutions.

One of Harrington’s attorneys declined to comment Friday. The other didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The trial of one of Omaha’s most notorious crimes will be delayed after a judge ruled that the out-of-state defense lawyers lost their authorization to work in Nebraska.

The local lawyers who were working with the Chicago defense lawyers defending former doctor Anthony Garcia were allowed to withdraw from the case Thursday.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine had filed a motion seeking to remove the Illinois lawyers after Alison Motta falsely told reporters that DNA evidence exonerated Garcia.

Garcia is charged in the 2008 deaths of the 11-year-old son of Creighton University pathologist William Hunter, as well as the family’s housekeeper. Garcia’s also charged in the 2013 deaths of Creighton pathologist Roger Brumback and his wife.

Garcia’s trial had been scheduled to begin on Monday.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Part of the Wilkinson Wildlife Management Area in Platte County has been closed temporarily because three whooping cranes are using the area.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says the cranes have been at the park since March 25, so the eastern third of the park has been closed off.

The commission routinely closes off areas once whooping cranes are found.

The birds’ total wild population of about 300 individuals migrates through Nebraska each fall and spring between wintering sites along the Texas coast and breeding areas in northern Alberta.

They are protected by state and federal endangered species laws. Penalties for killing, possessing or harassing whooping cranes may include fines of up to $50,000, up to a year in jail, or both.

CAIRO, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a pickup driver has been killed in a collision with a semitrailer in south-central Nebraska.

The accident occurred around 8:30 Thursday morning about 2½ miles south of Cairo (KEH’-roh) at the intersection of West Airport Road and Nebraska Highway 11. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office says the semitrailer rolled onto its left side, spilling some of its contents onto the highway. The semi’s driver suffered only minor injuries.

The names of both drivers and other details about the accident have not been released. The pickup driver was described as a man from rural Buffalo County.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Efforts are underway to improve a transit service that’s been providing weekday rides to residents in rural Lancaster County for nearly 35 years.

The transit service’s new manager, Mitch Sump, is seeking ways to make it more useful and better known. He’s also trying to battle misconceptions that the service is just for seniors, is limited by income and is only for medical appointments and grocery shopping.

Anyone, regardless of age and income, can utilize the door-to-door service for $2 per ride.

Sump says the service currently averages about 29 passengers per week, but it has the capacity to do more.

This year’s budget is expected to be about $80,000.