May 29, 2009
For more information contact:
Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney Dixie A. Morrow
(850) 444-4000
THREE LOCAL MEN SENTENCED TO PRISON ON FEDERAL CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES
Pensacola, Florida - United States Attorney Thomas F. Kirwin, Northern District of Florida, announced today that Dale Brunette, 44, of Pensacola, Shawn Workman, 36, of Defuniak Springs and Charles Cunningham, 66, of Gulf Breeze, Florida were sentenced on Thursday afternoon for possession of child pornography. Each defendant had previously pled guilty in three separate cases to federal charges stemming from an investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The nationwide investigation targeted those who were utilizing Internet payment mechanisms, such as “PayPal,” to order monthly subscriptions to “member restricted” child pornography websites. The defendants were able to access an unlimited amount of child pornography every month they paid for a subscription. Financial records led Immigration and Customs Enforcement to these defendants, as well as others throughout the country, and search warrants were executed on their homes. Each of the three men was found in possession of child pornography.
Each defendant was sentenced to a term in federal prison: Brunette, a truck driver, was sentenced to 6 ½ years, Workman, a former active duty and reserve member of the United States Air Force, was sentenced to 6 ½ years, and Cunningham, a real estate broker, was sentenced to 5 years. In announcing the sentences, United States District Judge M. Casey Rodgers noted how destructive the sexual exploitation of children is to society. Judge Rodgers made it clear that penalties in these cases need to be strong in order to both punish the defendants and to deter others from engaging in this type of criminal activity.
Each of these cases was brought as part of the Northern District of Florida’s “Project Safe Childhood” effort, a national initiative aimed at combating the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. The Department of Justice launched the program in May 2006. 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. For more information about, please visit the official website at http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/
The investigation was spearheaded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. These cases were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David L. Goldberg and Randall J. Hensel.