Gulfport, Miss. – Brett Michael Sekinger, 26, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, was sentenced today by U. S. District Judge Louis Guirola, Jr. to serve 8 years in federal prison followed by ten years of supervised release for possessing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Christopher Freeze and Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood. Sekinger was also ordered to pay restitution to a victim in the amount of $5,000.

Through an investigation conducted by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which began in January 2015, a user was identified via an internet protocol address as being associated with activity linked to a child pornography "bulletin board". This bulletin board was used by an online community of individuals regularly sending and receiving child pornography via a website that operated on an anonymous online network. The website was accessible only to users within the subject network who had to use appropriate software and who had to create a user name and a password to get on this anonymous website.

A federal search warrant was executed on February 5, 2016, on the residence associated with a particular internet protocol address and user name located in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. At that time, Brett M. Sekinger was found to knowingly possess computers and other electronic components containing visual depictions in digital still and video format of minors, to include minors who had not attained 12 years of age, engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Brett M. Sekinger faced a maximum sentence of not more than 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and not less than 5 years to life supervised release. This case was investigated by agents of the FBI Jackson Division’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which is made up of agents from the FBI and the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, officers from the Prentiss County Sheriff’s Office, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea C. Jones.