EAST ST. LOUIS — A 26-year-old Okawville man was sentenced Thursday in federal court to 60 months in federal prison for receipt of child pornography.

Casey A. Koepke will also have to serve 5 years of supervised release, pay a $500 fine, and register as a sex offender.

According to Donald S. Boyce, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, the case against Koepke was 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.

Led by the United States 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.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura V. Reppert.