Franklin Man Sentenced to More Than 6 Years in Prison for Possessing Child Pornography

LAFAYETTE, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a Franklin man was sentenced to 78 months in prison on charges that he downloaded and stored images of child pornography onto a hard drive.

Tommie Joseph Beason, 37, of Franklin, La., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard T. Haik on one count of possession of child pornography. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release. According to evidence presented at the October 27, 2014 guilty plea, law enforcement agents detected Beason downloading child pornography. Law enforcement agents then searched Beason’s residence on June 3, 2014, and found 230 images and 88 videos of hardcore child pornography on an external hard drive. The illegal files included prepubescent child pornography with very young children and sadistic material.

Homeland Security Investigations and the Louisiana State Police conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney John Luke Walker prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Investigations/Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) encourage the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at (866) DHS-2ICE.  Investigators are available at all hours to answer hotline calls. Tips or other information can also be submitted to ICE online at www.ice.gov/exec/forms/hsi-tips/tips.asp. Tips may be submitted anonymously.