News Releases

ICE fugitive caught and pleads guilty to child pornography charges
Homeland Security Investigations and International Affairs track man to Honduras

PHILADELPHIA - Charles Lefebvre, 27, formerly of Rockledge, Pa., pleaded guilty on November 22 to possession of child pornography in federal court in Philadelphia. Upon execution of a search warrant on July 14, 2008, agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) seized three computers and one external hard drive that had been used to view and store child pornography.

The defendant admitted to the agents executing the search warrant that he had collected thousands of images of child pornography by means of the Internet over a period of years. Within a month, Lefebvre emptied out his bank accounts and fled the country. Two years later, the ICE office of International Affairs found him living in Honduras using the identity of a Honduran citizen. After Honduras deported the defendant as an illegal alien, ICE HSI arrested him pursuant to a complaint and warrant issued by the federal court on Sept. 29, 2008, charging him with possession of child pornography.

The defendant's collection of child pornography included images of children of all ages, from infants to teenagers, and included images of a sadistic and violent nature, such as bondage and bestiality. Approximately 166 of the video files found on the defendant's computer equipment depict children whose identities are known and whose ages have been verified. He stated that his primary interest was in girls approximately age 10, although he collected pornographic images of children of all ages.

Lefebvre will be sentenced on March 4, 2011. He faces a maximum possible sentence of 10 years imprisonment, followed by a mandatory minimum of five years supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. The case was investigated by ICE HSI and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily McKillip.

This investigation is part of ICE's Operation Predator, a nationwide initiative to identify, investigate and arrest those who sexually exploit children, and the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood, which marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet.

As part of Operation Predator, ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators. 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.