MACON, Ga. – A registered child sex offender living in Perry, Georgia was sentenced to ten years in prison today after an international investigation found he was uploading child pornography on a popular instant messaging app, said Charles “Charlie” Peeler, the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.

David Franklin Browder, III, 31, of Perry, Georgia was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell to 120 months in prison followed by 25 years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. Judge Treadwell also ordered that Browder pay $3,000 in restitution to each identifiable victim in the 213 images of child sexual exploitation the defendant possessed. Browder will also have to register as a sex offender in any state where he resides following his release from prison. There is no parole in the federal system.

The defendant admitted that, using the name “yappydappy,” he uploaded images of minors, including an infant, being sexually abused onto the Kik instant messaging app. Canadian authorities first began investigating the case in 2019, discovering the account was associated with an IP address located in the United States. They provided the file to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Atlanta, through the HSI Cyber Crimes Center for further investigation. On January 8, 2020, HSI agents, with the assistance of the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, executed a federal search warrant at the Perry residence where the defendant lived, seizing devices belonging to Browder. A HSI forensic analysis found approximately 213 image files containing child sexual exploitation material. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) Child Recognition and Identification System (CRIS) was used to identify child victims contained in the images. In all, the CRIS system identified 49 images from nine known series of child pornography contained within the defendant’s image files. Browder is a repeat child sex offender and was convicted in 2008 in the Superior Court of Houston County, Georgia for criminal attempt to commit child molestation and sexual battery of a minor.

“Browder is a repeat child sex offender, with two previous state convictions for egregious crimes against children in Houston County. He will now spend the next ten years in a federal prison, where there is no parole,” said Charlie Peeler, the U.S. Attorney. “Tracking down this child predator, and removing him from the streets of Perry, is the result of the excellent partnership between HSI Ottawa and HSI Atlanta. I want to thank both agencies for their work in this case, and for their total dedication to saving children worldwide from the grip of their abusers.”

“The children of Houston County, Georgia should sleep easier knowing a child pedophile is off their streets for the next decade,” said acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer, who oversees Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) operations in Georgia and Alabama. “These types of heinous investigations wouldn’t be possible without the great partnerships of the Houston County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office."

The case was investigated by HSI Atlanta, HSI Ottawa, Canada with assistance from the Houston County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shanelle Booker prosecuted the case for the Government. Questions can be directed to Pamela Lightsey, Public Information Officer, United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 621-2603 or Melissa Hodges, Public Affairs Director (Contractor), United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 765-2362.