Acting United States Attorney Ellison C. Travis announced that Blake Joseph Steiner, a former contractor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has been sentenced to 86 months in federal prison for distributing child pornography. U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson also ordered Steiner to serve five years of supervised release following his imprisonment. Additionally, Steiner must complete sex offender treatment and register as a sex offender upon his release.
During the plea process, Steiner admitted to initiating a conversation with an undercover agent through a mobile application group chat. His goal was to gain access to a group dedicated to sharing and trading child pornography. To verify his identity, he sent the agent a video of himself along with the date. In another attempt to join what he believed was an online child pornography group, Steiner sent a video depicting the rape of a girl under 12 years old by an adult male. He also confessed to managing another child pornography group online and engaging in hands-on conduct involving a minor.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Security Investigations and the Louisiana State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Edward H. Warner, who is also Deputy Criminal Chief, prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse nationwide. The project coordinates federal, state, and local resources to locate and prosecute individuals exploiting children via the Internet while identifying and rescuing victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.
