Registered Sex Offender Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison for Possession of Images of Child Rape

          A registered sex offender with two prior convictions for child molestation was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to ten years in prison and ten years of supervised release, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes.  DOUGLAS BLOUIN, 51, of Sedro Woolley, Washington came to the attention of law enforcement in 2016, when an agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) used law-enforcement software to investigate individuals sharing child pornography over peer-to-peer file sharing networks.  At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Zilly said BLOUIN has “gone to great lengths to view child pornography.”

            According to records filed in the case, the HSI agent was working with the Seattle Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) when he downloaded multiple images and videos of child pornography being shared by a computer at an internet protocol address later traced to BLOUIN.  A records check revealed that BLOUIN was a registered sex offender with convictions for two counts of child molestation in 1998 in Skamania County, Washington.

            Law enforcement served a search warrant on BLOUIN’s home and seized a number of devices.  BLOUIN told law enforcement that he used peer-to-peer software to download child pornography.  BLOUIN also admitted that he used a specific ‘scrubbing’ software to remove evidence of the child pornography from his electronic devices.  A forensic review of the devices found evidence of the scrubbing software, the file-sharing software, file names consistent with child pornography, and one image of child pornography.

            BLOUIN pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on August 8, 2017.

          This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys= Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Hampton.