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Department of Justice United States Attorney David L. Huber Contact: Sandy Focken |
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April 11, 2008
ALABAMA MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO PRODUCTION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
– Defendant Arrested in Owensboro by FBI on Birmingham Charges
LOUISVILLE, KY - Melton Franklin Cauley, age 44, of Owensboro, Kentucky, in Daviess County, Kentucky, and formerly of Athens, Alabama, pled guilty to two counts of production of child pornography, one count of possession of child pornography, and one count of receipt of child pornography, U.S. Attorney David L. Huber announced today.
Cauley was arrested by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Owensboro on December 13, 2007, on a federal warrant issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, based on a Grand Jury Indictment issued in that district, said U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, North District of Alabama. Her office had prepared the case.
Facts
Cauley admitted that on two separate occasions in May 2003 he produced visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct using materials which had been transported in interstate commerce. Cauley also admitted that on May 19, 2004, he possessed material containing images of child pornography which had been transported in interstate commerce. Cauley also admitted that beginning in or about January 2003 and continuing until in or about February 2004, he received images of child pornography which had moved in interstate commerce by downloading images and videos from the internet.
In May 2004, three days after Cauley was arrested by the Athens Police Department in Athens, Alabama, on charges of sodomy and sexual abuse, Cauley’s girlfriend produced two compact disks to the police which she had found in a refrigerator in the garage in an area used primarily by Cauley. The Birmingham Division of the FBI analyzed the compact disks, and found images of child pornography. The CD’s contained a total of 96 images of child pornography and six videos. The images were sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for a comparison to a database of known victims, establishing that 42 of the images on Cauley’s CD’s were of known child victims. Approximately 10% of the images Cauley had downloaded depict sadomasochistic behavior, and some of the images are of prepubescent children.
One of Cauley’s CD’s contained material Cauley downloaded from the internet. The second CD ROM contained images of a 14-year-old female living in Athens, Alabama, who was identified by investigators. Cauley had taken pictures of the minor himself, and saved them on a CD. The images constitute child pornography in that they show the lascivious exhibition of the genital or pubic area of a minor. Cauley was interviewed and admitted to taking the pictures while the minor was sleeping.
Prior Court Action
Cauley entered a guilty plea to charges of sodomy in the second degree in state court in Athens, Alabama in April 2005. The federal charges against Cauley were returned by a grand jury sitting in the Northern District of Alabama in July 2007, and a warrant issued for Cauley’s arrest. Following his arrest in the Owensboro area in December 2007, Cauley expressed his desire to enter a plea of guilty to the Alabama indictment here in the Western District of Kentucky. Cauley has been in federal custody since his arrest in December.
The maximum potential penalties, are not less than 35 years imprisonment and up to 90 years, a $1,000,000 fine, and a term of supervised release for not less than five years and any term of years up to life.
The plea was entered before Joseph H. McKinley, Jr., Judge, United States District Court, Owensboro, Kentucky.
Cauley is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge McKinley on July 11, 2008, at 9:00 a.m. in Owensboro, Kentucky.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States 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.
Cauley’s guilty plea and sentencing in the Western District of Kentucky are being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Marisa J. Ford. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Birmingham, Alabama.
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