October 15, 2007

Child pornography crime conviction results in almost 6-year prison term

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A local resident here was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison last week for possessing and distributing child pornography. This sentence resulted from a criminal investigation conducted by special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Darrell Adwell, 44, of 6833 Candstar Dr., was sentenced Oct. 11 to five years and 10 months imprisonment for distributing and possessing images of child pornography. Adwell was also sentenced to 10 years supervised release following his incarceration, and is required to forfeit the computer equipment he used to perpetrate his crimes. Adwell was sentenced by Chief Judge John G. Heyburn II, Western District of Kentucky.

Adwell pleaded guilty July 9 to distributing child pornography on Nov. 8, 2004 using the email address KEVININKY1@aol.com. An investigation in San Francisco, Calif., revealed that Adwell was trading child pornography images with Timothy Ockenfels in San Francisco. ICE agents in Louisville visited Adwell at his home and obtained consent to search his computer.

The images sent by Adwell to Ockenfels included depictions of pre-pubescent girls and a boy posing nude and lasciviously displaying their genitals. Adwell had also pleaded guilty to possessing between 10 and 150 images of child pornography on a computer located in his home in Louisville in May 2006. Ockenfels pleaded guilty to 10 counts of possessing child pornography in San Francisco in February.

"These child pornography cases send a clear warning to other child predators that ICE is committed to bringing them to justice if they sexually exploit children," said Elissa A. Brown, special agent-in-charge of the ICE office of Investigations in Chicago. "Some of these predators mistakenly believe that using cyberspace to exploit children shields them from scrutiny. However, the Internet is not anonymous; ICE can find and track child pornographers on the Internet."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Claire Phillips, Western District of Kentucky, prosecuted this case.

The investigation into Adwell was part of Operation Predator, a national ICE initiative that protects children by investigating and presenting for prosecution pedophiles, Internet predators, human traffickers, international sex tourists, and other predatory criminals. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 10,000 child predators and sex offenders nationwide.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. Investigators staff this hotline around the clock.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com

-- 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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