Lafayette man sentenced to 14 years in prison for receiving child pornography through Facebook

LAFAYETTE, La. – United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that a Lafayette man was sentenced last week to 168 months in prison for enticing a minor into sending images of child pornography online.

Steven Anthony Lemoine, 29, of Lafayette, was sentenced January 18 by U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell on one count of receiving child pornography.  He was also sentenced to 15 years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender. According to the October 19, 2018 guilty plea, Lemoine posed as a female on Facebook and enticed a 12-year-old minor to send him images of child pornography on December 26, 2016 and January 5, 2017. Lemoine’s home was later searched, and he admitted to using the online persona to obtain the images.

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 combines 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. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) also encourage the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at (866) 347-2423.  Investigators are available at all hours to answer hotline calls.  Tips or other information can also be submitted to ICE online by visiting their website at www.ice.gov/exec/forms/hsi-tips/tips.asp or through the Operation Predator smartphone application www.ice.gov/predator/smartphone-app.  Tips may be submitted anonymously.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Louisiana State Police and Marksville Police Department conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney John Luke Walker prosecuted the case.