Lafayette Man Pleads Guilty To Receiving Child Pornography

LAFAYETTE, La. – U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that Mark Anthony Slade, 55, of Lafayette, pleaded guilty Tuesday before U. S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote to knowingly receiving child pornography on his computer.

According to court documents, local and federal law enforcement authorities using computer surveillance software detected the defendant downloading child pornography. He used the internet file sharing program Limewire to download the files. After obtaining a warrant, authorities searched his residence Oct. 29, 2010, and seized the defendant’s computer. Slade was found to have downloaded 10 movies of child pornography. Some of the pornography depicted prepubescent children.

Slade faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and five years of supervised release. Sentencing has been set for Sept. 13, 2013. The Lafayette Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Luke Walker and Daniel J. McCoy are prosecuting 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)
encourages 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.