SHREVEPORT, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a Bossier City man was sentenced Monday to 180 months in prison for receiving child pornography.
Christopher J. Leger, 53, of Bossier City, La., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. on one count of receiving child pornography. He was also sentenced to 10 years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender. According to the November 18, 2015 guilty plea, federal agents executed a search warrant March 13, 2014 on Leger’s residence. Child pornography had previously been downloaded from a computer at the address. After examining media devices from the residence, agents found 76 images and two videos of child pornography.
“The internet is not a safe haven for those downloading and sharing images of abused children,” Finley stated. “These materials are illegal and perpetuate the extreme abuse of children. This prison sentence shows that abusers will be vigorously prosecuted.”
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood combines 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.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Investigations/Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) also encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at (866) 347-2423. Investigators are available at all hours to answer hotline calls. Tips or other information can also be submitted to ICE online by visiting their website at www.ice.gov/exec/forms/hsi-tips/tips.asp or through the Operation Predator smartphone application www.ice.gov/predator/smartphone-app. Tips may be submitted anonymously.
Homeland Security Investigations and Louisiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Earl M. Campbell prosecuted the case.