THREE SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR ROLES IN SHARING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ON FACEBOOK

FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

WASHINGTON – Two Wisconsin men and a Missouri man were sentenced to prison for their role in a conspiracy to advertise, distribute and possess child pornography, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Anne M. Tompkins announced today.

Daniel Slott, 44, of Merrill, Wis., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Richard L. Voorhees in the Western District of North Carolina to serve 228 months in prison and lifetime supervised release.

Brian Slott, 42, of Merrill, was sentenced today Judge Voorhees to serve 180 months in prison and lifetime supervised release.

Henry Wright, 50, of Jefferson County, Mo., was sentenced yesterday by Judge Voorhees to serve 70 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release.

Following their release, all three co-conspirators must register as sex offenders.

In November 2010, a grand jury charged six individuals, including Brian Slott, Daniel Slott and Wright, with conspiracy to advertise, distribute and possess child pornography. All three pleaded guilty to the charges in July 2011.

According to filed court documents and court proceedings, Brian Slott, Daniel Slott and Wright engaged in a conspiracy with others to share child pornography on Facebook. Court records indicate that all three were members of several Facebook groups dedicated to sharing child pornography and child erotica, including groups called "girls girls girls :)" and "little girls love to play to :)." These groups contained over 10,000 images of child pornography and child erotica. According to filed documents and statements made in court, Wright engaged in chats with the group leader and commented on images of prepubescent children posted to the Facebook groups. Daniel Slott, a registered sex offender, traveled to his brother’s house to participate in the groups and download images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Brian Slott also downloaded images from the groups’ sites. In August 2010, agents with the FBI executed a search warrant at Daniel Slott, Brian Slott and Henry Wright’s residences and seized multiple computers and storage media devices. Hundreds of images of child pornography were located on these items.

Three co-conspirators were sentenced earlier this fall: James Byrd was sentenced in August 2012 to serve 87 months in prison; David Large was sentenced in October 2012 to 70 months in prison; and Michael Engelking was sentenced in October 2012 to serve 210 months in prison.

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.  
The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Unit headquartered in Maryland. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cortney S. Escaravage of the Western District of North Carolina and Trial Attorney LisaMarie Freitas of CEOS.