DALLAS, Texas - Christopher Dale Gann, 30, of Dallas, Texas, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater to 240 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in December 2016 to one count of distribution of a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
Gann has been in custody since the date of his arrest in October 2016.
According to plea documents, on Aug. 22, 2016 law enforcement encountered Gann in Dallas, Texas. Gann was in possession of a cellular phone as well as three memory cards. A forensic examination of Gann’s phone revealed the presence of a still image of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Gann communicated that same day with an individual on the Kik Instant Messaging application and sent the image from his phone.
The cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s 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 sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources."
U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Marshals Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Saleem was in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
