Reliance Man Pleads Guilty to Accessing Child Porn

US Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that Douglas Fletcher, age 68, of Reliance, South Dakota, appeared before US District Judge Roberto A. Lange on May 25, 2011, and pled guilty to accessing child pornography with intent to view. The maximum penalty upon conviction is 10 years imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine.

On November 17, 2009, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Douglas Fletcher's residence in Reliance. Investigators seized his computer and multiple hard drives from his home and forensically examined them. The forensic examinations revealed the presence of images of child pornography on three of the seized hard drives. Fletcher has admitted that he knowingly accessed with intent to view computer files that contained images of child pornography while using his home computer in Reliance.

The investigation was conducted by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, the Lyman County Sheriff's Department, and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations . The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper.

A presentence investigation was ordered, and a sentencing date was set for August 15, 2011. The defendant remains detained pending sentencing.

This case is being 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 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 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.