LAFAYETTE - United States Attorney Donald W. Washington announced today that

Bobby Turner, age 56, of Abbeville, Louisiana, was sentenced in United States District Court for possession of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Richard T. Haik sentenced Turner to spend 95 months in federal prison and a term of 15 years supervised release following confinement.

Turner was indicted in January 2008 and pled guilty in June 2008 to possession of child pornography.

In July 2007, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents received information that Turner had purchased a membership to a website which distributed child pornography. Pursuant to a search warrant executed at Turner’s residence, his computer was seized, and images of hard core prepubescent child pornography was found. Upon examination of the computer, evidence revealed that those images had been

downloaded from the internet. Bobby Turner Turner admitted that he had joined child pornography websites and had downloaded images of child pornography.

At the sentencing today, Erol Catalan of Immigration and Customs Service, testified that in 2003 the defendant accessed a child pornography website; in 2006 the defendant accessed a child pornography website; and that in May of 2008, while on bond after pleading guilty in this case, the defendant attempted to access a child pornography website.

U. S. Attorney Donald Washington stated: “Every child appearing in pornographic photos and videos is a victim of a terrible crime. Those who create, distribute, and possess these photos and videos are victimizing children to feed a predator. This office will continue to aggressively pursue predators of innocent children through vigorous investigations and prosecutions seeking maximum punishment.”

Sentencing in federal court is determined by the discretion of federal judges and the governing statute. United States Sentencing Guidelines established by the United States Congress and the United States Sentencing Commission are only used as guidelines by the judge in determining the appropriate sentence. Parole has been abolished in the federal system.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, Project Safe Childhood was created as a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit: www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Luke Walker.