Oct. 17, 2008

Jacksonville man pleads guilty to federal charge of possession of child pornography

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A 47-year-old Jacksonville man pleaded guilty yesterday to possession of child pornography following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) led investigation.

Vance Edmond LeSage was arrested in Jacksonville on August 27, 2008, and has been in federal custody since that time. LeSage faces a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and a life term of supervised release. Additionally, LeSage, a licensed bail bondsman in the state of Florida, faces possible revocation of his license by the State of Florida Department of Insurance. A sentencing date for Mr. LeSage has not yet been set.

According to court documents, during 2007, agents with the ICE Cyber Crimes Center began investigating commercial child pornography websites on the Internet. During the course of this investigation, agents identified information indicating that Mr. LeSage obtained a subscription to one of the child pornography websites. On February 26, 2008, ICE agents in Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) Vice Unit went to Mr. LeSage's residence in Jacksonville and spoke to him about his subscription. During this interview, he stated, among other things, that he subscribed to child modeling websites, but was not sure of the ages of all the children on the websites.

Later that day, ICE agents and members of the JSO Vice Unit executed a search warrant at LeSage's residence. During the search, agents seized an iMac computer. A subsequent forensic examination of the iMac computer revealed approximately 20,000 images of child erotica and approximately 130 images of child pornography. Some of the images of child pornography portrayed sadistic conduct involving children.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Vice Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Frein is handling the prosecution of this case.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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