MADISON, WIS. – Scott C. Blader, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Paul Doucet, 37, Holmen, Wisconsin, was sentenced yesterday by Chief U.S. District Judge James Peterson to 10 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography.  This term of imprisonment is to be followed by a 25-year period of supervised release.  Doucet pleaded guilty to this charge on July 2, 2018. 

On May 17, 2018, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Doucet’s home and found numerous thumb drives and a computer hard drive that were analyzed and found to contain child pornography.

Doucet was subject to a 10-year mandatory minimum because he had a prior conviction for possessing child pornography and a prior conviction for child exploitation.  However, Judge Peterson indicated he would impose the same sentence even if it were not required of him because Doucet had prior offenses involving the exploitation of children, was on supervision for his prior offenses when he committed the crime in this case, and circumvented protections that were in place as conditions of his supervision by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections to keep him from accessing a computer. 

The charge against Doucet was the result of an investigation conducted by members of the Coulee Region Children’s Internet Protection Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Members of the task force include the Campbell, Holmen, La Crosse, and Town of Shelby Police Departments, and the La Crosse County Sheriff’s Department.  The Wisconsin Department of Corrections also assisted with the investigation.  The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman.

This investigation was a 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. 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.justice.gov/psc.