ALEXANDRIA, La. – United States Attorney David C. Joseph announced that a DeRidder man was sentenced last week to 120 months in prison for possessing child pornography after previously being convicted of that same crime. 

Edward Lee Daughenbaugh, 51, of DeRidder, Louisiana, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell on one count of possession of child pornography. The defendant was also sentenced to supervised release for the rest of his life. According to the July 26, 2018 guilty plea, a U.S. Probation and Parole agent conducted an unannounced visit May 9, 2018 on Daughenbaugh, who had previously been convicted of possession of child pornography and was on supervised release. The agent found Daughenbaugh with a cell phone that had access to the internet, which the defendant was barred from possessing. The agent took possession of the cell phone, analyzed it forensically and found approximately 40 child pornography videos of young children under the age of 12. A search warrant was executed at the defendant’s home, and law enforcement found a notebook that contained key word searches that could be used to find prepubescent child pornography. Daughenbaugh later admitted in an interview to downloading the child pornography.

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.

Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Probation and Parole, Louisiana State Police and the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney John Luke Walker prosecuted the case.