Lee County Man Pleads Guilty To Distributing Child Pornography

Fort Myers, Florida - Acting United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Charles Allen Nave, III (39, Fort Myers) today pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography. Nave faces a mandatory minimum term of 5 years, up to a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.

According to the plea agreement, on January 31, 2013, Nave knowingly distributed child pornography over the Internet to an undercover agent that he met in an online chat room. Nave sent the undercover agent four emails with attachments depicting images of child pornography. Following the execution of a search warrant, a forensic analysis of Nave’s computer revealed more than 300 images and 20 videos of child pornography.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), along with the Sanibel Police Department, the Fort Myers Police Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Lee County Sheriff's Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Yolande G. Viacava.

It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the 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 locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.