Indiana Man Sentenced to 72 Months of Incarceration for Transportation of Child Pornography and Possession of Child Pornography

WASHINGTON—Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips, Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Washington Field Office, and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced today that Seth Gulley, 29, of Greenfield, Indiana, was sentenced on July 6, 2009, before the Honorable Richard W. Roberts of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to a period of 72 months incarceration. Gulley pled guilty to Transportation of Child Pornography and Possessing Material Constituting Child Pornography on October 16, 2008. Judge Roberts also ordered that Gulley be placed on supervised release for 30 years upon completion of his prison sentence. Gulley’s supervision will include numerous requirements, including registration as a sex offender, and limitations on access to and contact with minors, computers, and the internet.

According to the Statement of Offense filed by the government, on October 12, 2007, an undercover detective with the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department, posing as an adult pedophile, registered to gain access to, and subsequently monitored, a known child pornography site. On October 31, 2007, the detective utilized a covert screen name and posted a message in the public access forum in the site for anyone in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia or the District of Columbia, who was active and wanted to chat.

On November 15, 2007, the detective was contacted by an individual who utilized the screen name “wolfhall_yng1" who initiated a conversation through instant messaging. During that conversation the detective was informed by “wolfhall_yng1" that he was chatting with another pedophile in Yahoo! who was utilizing the screen name “daddee_luvs_yng_girls”. That same day, the detective, utilizing a covert screen name, initiated contact in Yahoo! instant message with the defendant, who utilized the screen name “daddee_luvs_yng_girls”, and also identified himself as “Seth.”

The defendant described himself as a 28-year-old white male residing in Indiana. During the course of communications between the detective and the defendant between November 15, 2007, and May 22, 2008, the defendant sent the detective by photo share approximately fourteen (14) files containing images depicting children who appear to be under the age of 12 engaged in suggestive posing and in sexual acts with adults.

In conversations with the detective the defendant said that he lived with his father. Moreover, the defendant routinely displayed a color photograph of himself in his profile box during the course of these communications with the detective. During all of these communications, the detective was at a location within the District of Columbia. Subsequent investigation determined that the defendant resided with his father in Greenfield, Indiana.

On June 3, 2008, the defendant was arrested in Greenfield, Indiana, pursuant to a warrant for his arrest that was issued by a U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge for the District of Columbia on May 22, 2008. On June 2, 2008, a U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Indiana issued a search warrant authorizing the search of the defendant’s residence. The warrant was executed by Metropolitan Police Department Detectives and Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Among the items recovered during the search of the defendant’s home was a HP Pavillion Computer. A forensic analysis of that computer was conducted by a Criminal Investigator with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. On the computer were 303 images of child pornography, including the 14 images of child pornography that the defendant had sent to the detective, and 8 video-sequenced movies/images of child pornography, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2256. The images located on the defendant’s computer were taken to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and have been compared with NCMEC’s Child Recognition & Identification System (CRIS).

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood and the Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

In announcing the sentence, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Persichini, Jr., and MPD Chief Lanier commended the outstanding investigative work of Metropolitan Police Detective Timothy Palchak and FBI Special Agent Scott Schelbe, who are members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and Criminal Investigator John Marsh of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, for his forensic computer analysis. They also praised the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Karla-Dee Clark who investigated and prosecuted the case.

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