QUENTIN KITTEL, age 21, a resident of Slidell, Louisiana, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo to five (5) years in prison, followed by eight (8) years of supervised release after previously pleading guilty to crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children, announced United States Attorney Jim Letten. Specifically, KITTEL had previously pleaded guilty to two-counts of receiving images depicting the sexual exploitation and victimization of children. KITTEL will also have to register as a sex offender.

According to courts documents, between Fall 2009 and October 2011, KITTEL met two juvenile females, the first of whom was sixteen-years-old and the second was twelve-years-old. After meeting each female, KITTEL began communicating with them via text message. Soon after meeting, KITTEL requested and encouraged the victims to take sexually explicit pictures of themselves send them to him via text message. In his requests, KITTEL described in detail how he wanted each victim to pose and what he wanted her to do in the photos. After the victims complied and sent him sexually explicit images, KITTEL then sent the images from his cellular telephone to his personal e-mail account.

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 (CEOS), 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 to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg prosecuted the case.

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