LAFAYETTE, La. - Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that a Crowley man was sentenced Friday to 180 months in prison for using his cell phone to produce videos of sex acts with a minor.
Blake Damian Rodgers, 35, of Crowley, La., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Donald E. Walter on one count of production of child pornography. He was also sentenced to 15 years of supervised release and ordered pay a $5,000 fine under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. He is also required to register as a sex offender. According to the Jan. 31, 2017 guilty plea, Rodgers was arrested and booked into the Acadia Parish jail Feb. 24, 2016 on theft charges. While incarcerated, officers were notified that Rodgers was having sexually explicit conversations on the phone with a 14-year-old minor. Further investigation revealed that Rodgers had been involved in a sexual relationship with the minor and had taken videos of the acts on his cell phone. After recovering the cell phone, law enforcement agents located several sexually explicit videos of the minor.
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.
Homeland Security Investigations and the Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney David C. Joseph prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
