Gulfport, Miss. - Dannie Curlee, Jr., 46, of Picayune, pled guilty today before Senior U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. to producing images of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Jere T. Miles, Special Agent in Charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans.
In February 2017, Curlee produced images of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Curlee was identified by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Attache Vancouver, and HSI in Mississippi, as an individual, with a specific user name, involved with numerous individuals posting images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children utilizing a Canadian company’s instant messaging mobile app “Kik".
Subsequent investigation and the identification of an internet protocol or “IP" address linked to Curlee led to the execution of a federal search warrant in July of 2018 at Curlee’s Picayune residence and his subsequent arrest. Curlee admitted when interviewed that he had produced images of a minor child. He was charged in a federal indictment in April, 2019.
Curlee will be sentenced by Judge Guirola on Nov. 14, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. in Gulfport. He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations Border Enforcement Security Task Force with assistance from the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Jones.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
