SHREVEPORT, La. - Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that a Shreveport man was sentenced Wednesday to 151 months in prison for receiving child pornography.
James Vail, 52, of Shreveport, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. on one count of receipt of child pornography. He was also sentenced to 10 years of supervised release. According to the April 18, 2017 guilty plea, state police detected Vail downloading and trading images of child pornography using his computer via an internet-enabled electronic device. State police searched his home, and Vail admitted during the search that he used an online peer-to-peer program to trade child pornography. A forensic examination of his computer revealed numerous images of child pornography downloaded from October 2015 to June 2016.
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 combines 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.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Louisiana State Police conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Earl M. Campbell prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
