LAKE CHARLES, La. - United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a Lafayette man was sentenced Thursday to 60 months in prison for receiving child pornography and storing it on a thumb drive.
James Michael Hinson, 67, of Lafayette, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patricia Minaldi on one count of receiving child pornography. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender. According to the June 2, 2016 guilty plea, electronic files containing child pornography were detected in May of 2015 as being transferred to an account associated with the defendant. Hinson was later arrested, and a thumb drive containing 383 images and 65 videos of child pornography was found.
Homeland Security Investigations and the Louisiana Attorney General’s Cyber Crime Unit conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert C. Abendroth prosecuted 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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) also encourage 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.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
