SCHOOL SECURITY OFFICER GETS 30 YEARS FOR PRODUCTION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Former Birmingham, Ala., School Security Officer Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Production of Child Pornography

WASHINGTON – A former security officer in the Birmingham City School System, who was also a substitute bus driver for Shelby County, Ala., schools, was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for producing child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance of the Northern District of Alabama, Northern District of Alabama FBI Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Maley and Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper.

U.S. District Judge Inge P. Johnson also sentenced Michael Wayne Wooten, 61, of Alabaster, Ala., to lifetime supervised release following his prison term.  The court noted during the hearing that Wooten had numerous child victims.  Law enforcement efforts have identified 11 children whom he exploited.

Wooten pleaded guilty in January 2012 to the child pornography charge.

“Mr. Wooten used his position as a school security guard to gain access to young children,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.  “But rather than protect school students, he sexually abused them and captured this abuse in dozens of photographs.  Today, appropriately, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.”

“Restoring the innocence and trust this defendant stole from his victims is impossible, but the judge’s sentence punishes him for the harm he did and ensures he will never exploit another child,” said U.S. Attorney Vance.  “This defendant will be eligible for release when he is 91.  Today, we confirm that victimizing children by taking sexually explicit photographs of them is abhorrent criminal behavior and it will be not tolerated.”
“Mr. Wooten used and abused his position of trust to satisfy his own perverse sexual interest in children,” said Special Agent in Charge Maley.  “Working with our law enforcement partners, the FBI will bring to justice those individuals who prey on the innocent.”

“We believe that justice has been served, and this is the appropriate sentence in a case where so many innocent children have been affected,” said Police Chief Roper.  “We appreciate all the various criminal justice agencies that came together to bring this investigation to a successful conclusion.”

According to court documents, Wooten, a retired Birmingham police officer, worked as a security officer for the Birmingham City Schools from July 1997 until May 2011.  Before his November arrest, Wooten had worked as a substitute bus driver in Shelby County schools during the current school year.

Between August 2009 and April 2010, Wooten used an office at Dupuy Elementary School in Birmingham to take modeling photos of numerous juvenile girls, according to court records.  After one of these modeling sessions, one of the victims told her parents of potentially inappropriate conduct by Wooten.  A subsequent search of Wooten’s residence yielded multiple computers containing child pornography images, including images produced by Wooten depicting several victims, between four and nine years of age, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The FBI and the Birmingham Police Department investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Fortune of the Northern District of Alabama and Trial Attorney Jeffrey H. Zeeman of the Justice Department Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section prosecuted the case.

MAN GETS 300 MONTH PRISON TERM FOR HIS CHILD PORN BUSINESS

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice website:
Friday, March 23, 2012
California Man Sentenced to 300 Months in Prison for Production and Possession of Child Pornography
WASHINGTON – Edward Lee Sullivan, of Oakland, Calif., was sentenced today to 300 months in prison for production and possession of child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag of the Northern District of California.

Sullivan, 39, was found guilty on Feb. 25, 2011, of one count of producing and one count of possessing child pornography after a 13-day bench trial before U.S. District Court Judge D. Lowell Jensen of the Northern District of California.

Evidence presented at trial showed that during a two-week period in March 2008, Sullivan trained a 14 year-old girl to work for him as a child prostitute.  During the course of those two weeks, Sullivan produced numerous photographs and videos of the minor, which documented the steps Sullivan took to prepare the girl to work as a prostitute and as an actress in pornographic movies.  According to trial evidence, Sullivan filmed at least one pornographic video of the minor, which depicted Sullivan instructing the minor as she performed oral sex on him.  At the time Sullivan committed these crimes, he was on parole following a 2002 state conviction for pimping and sexual conduct with a 14 year-old girl.
Sullivan also was sentenced today to lifetime supervised release following the completion of his prison term.
           
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew S. Huang and Maureen C. Bessette of the Northern District of California and Trial Attorney Alecia Riewerts Wolak of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.  The investigation was conducted by the FBI; the Berkeley, Calif., Police Department; and the Oakland Police Department.

CALIFORNIA YOUTH COUNCILOR GET'S 29 YEARS FOR PRODUCING CHILD PORN

The following excerpt is form the Department of Justice website:

Thursday, March 1, 2012
California Youth Counselor Sentenced to 29 Years in Prison for Producing Child Pornography Defendant Also Ordered to Pay $234,000 in Restitution to Victim
WASHINGTON – Thomas Perez Jewell was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Oakland, Calif., to 29 years in prison and was ordered to pay $234,000 in restitution for producing child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag of the Northern District of California and Special Agent in Charge Stephanie Douglas of the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office.  
                                           
According to court documents, Jewell first came to the attention of law enforcement authorities when he was suspected of distributing and possessing child pornography.   A search of Jewell’s Pleasant Hill, Calif., apartment pursuant to a search warrant revealed evidence that Jewell had sexually molested two minor victims and photographed and videotaped his abuse.   A hard drive hidden under the mattress in Jewell’s bedroom contained thousands of images of the minor victims.   Prior to his arrest and conviction, Jewell was employed as a youth counselor and therapist in Contra Costa County, Calif.
Jewell, 54, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Dec. 9, 2010.   He was charged with production of child pornography, transportation of child pornography and possession of child pornography.   He pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography on Nov. 23, 2011.  
                                                                                   
Jewell was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton.   Judge Hamilton also sentenced the defendant to a lifetime of supervised release .   Jewell has been in custody since his arrest on Nov. 18, 2010.
                                                                                                       
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Hill of the Northern District of California and Trial Attorney Mi Yung Park of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  This case was investigated by the FBI, the Pleasant Hill Police Department, the Martinez, Calif., Police Department and the Walnut Creek, Calif., Police Department.  
               
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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims.”