MORGANZA MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO PRODUCTION AND ATTEMPTED PRODUCTION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

United States Attorney Ronald C. Gathe, Jr. announced that Norman Antoine LeBlanc, age 34, of Morganza, Louisiana, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles to production and attempted production of child pornography.  As a result of his conviction, LeBlanc faces a significant term of imprisonment, a fine, and a period of supervised release, which includes sex offender registration requirements.

LeBlanc produced videos and images of a minor child engaging in sexually explicit conduct.  Specifically, LeBlanc secretly recorded videos of a minor in the bathroom and made sexually explicit still shots from the video.  LeBlanc then used a mobile application and a smartphone to send images and videos of the minor to an undercover agent in North Carolina.  LeBlanc also used the mobile application to distribute approximately 97 videos and 9 images of child pornography.

This matter was investigated by the United States Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Edward H. Warner. 

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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 http://www.justice.gov/psc.