Jennings Man Sentenced to 188 Months in Prison for Receiving Child Pornography

LAKE CHARLES, La. – Unites States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a Jennings man was sentenced Thursday to 188 months in prison for downloading hundreds of movies of child pornography to his computer and other electronic devices.

Seth Ryan Bivens, 30, of Jennings, La., was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Patricia Minaldi for one count of receiving child pornography. He was also sentenced to serve a lifetime of supervised release and is required to register as a sex offender. According to evidence presented at the guilty plea on November 1, 2013, law enforcement authorities discovered that Bivens was downloading child pornography using “peer-to-peer” software. Bivens’ home was searched on November 14, 2012. An examination of Bivens’ computer and other electronic devices uncovered 294 movies and 28 images of child pornography.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations and the Louisiana State Police conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert C. Abendroth 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.justice.gov/psc.

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 reported anonymously.