Arrest part of an international undercover investigation by Toronto, Ontario police
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - A substitute teacher, formerly employed by the Bowling Green (Kentucky) School system, was charged in a criminal complaint this week with possession and distribution of child pornography announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr.
Leon Lussier, age 49, of Bowling Green, Kentucky, was arrested on Sept. 1, 2015, and appeared before United States Magistrate Judge H. Brent Brennenstuhl later that day.
According to an affidavit attached to the criminal complaint, the international investigation started in January 2015, when the Toronto, Ontario, Canada Police Service, Child Exploitation Section, received information regarding the investigation of a group of individuals involved in the sexual abuse of children, including the distribution of child pornography. On June 23, 2015, a Toronto Police Service Detective Constable logged into an undercover software account and observed a person with the username “I luv boys" was streaming child pornography videos by sharing his computer screen. The user streamed four videos containing child pornography. Further investigation led law enforcement to Lussier as the person with username “I luv boys."
A search warrant of Lussier’s Bowling Green home resulted in the seizure of numerous computer media. A preview of an HP Pavilion by a Computer Forensics Agent revealed several videos containing child pornography. Several of the videos had been previously viewed in a chat room by an undercover officer. The videos were being live-streamed on a computer with an IP address assigned to Lussier.
If convicted at trial, Lussier faces not less than 5 years and not more than 25 years in prison, a 500,000.00 fine, and supervised release of at least five years and could be any number of years, including life. Lussier is being held in the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending a detention hearing scheduled for Friday, September 4, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. before Magistrate Judge Brennenstuhl.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless. This case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Canadian authorities, Bowling Green Police Department and U.S. Marshals Service.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."
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The charge of a person by a Criminal Complaint is an accusation only and that person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
