SHREVEPORT, La. - United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a Bossier City man pleaded guilty Wednesday to receiving child pornography.
Kenneth Ray Jurls, 40, of Bossier City, La., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote for one count of receiving child pornography. According to evidence presented at the guilty plea, law enforcement agents detected someone downloading child pornography using a peer-to-peer internet file sharing program. Law enforcement agents searched Jurls’ home on July 16, 2014 and seized his computer. A forensic examination of the computer revealed Jurls had been downloading child pornography for years. More than 1,000 images and videos of child pornography were found on his computer. The images included prepubescent children engaging in sexual and sadistic acts.
Because Jurls has two prior convictions for possession of child pornography in Bossier Parish, he faces 15 to 40 years in prison, not less than five years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. He is also required to register as a sex offender. A sentencing date of Sept. 15, 2015 was set.
Homeland Security Investigations, Louisiana Attorney General’s Office and the Bossier City Marshal’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael O’Mara is prosecuting the case.
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 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, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Investigations/Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) encourage the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at (866) DHS-2ICE. Investigators are available at all hours to answer hotline calls. Tips or other information can also be submitted to ICE online at www.ice.gov/exec/forms/hsi-tips/tips.asp or through the Operation Predator smartphone app. Tips may be submitted anonymously.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
