NEW ALBANY, IN-(ENEWSPF)- Joseph H. Hogsett, United States Attorney, announced that Danny L. Druck, 58, Louisville, Kentucky, has been sentenced to 96 months (eight years) in prison by U.S. District Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson following his guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute and receive child pornography.
“When we announced our prosecution of this child exploitation conspiracy, we made clear that we would follow every lead and prosecute all those responsible, no matter where they were,” Hogsett said. “Our investigation has led us from The Netherlands to New Albany, and we continue to pursue justice for those victimized by this disturbing and dangerous behavior.”
On November 17, 2010, a search warrant issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana was executed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state and local law enforcement partners at the Indiana residence of David R. Bostic. During the execution of the search warrant at his residence, Bostic admitted to searching for, possessing, downloading, and distributing child pornography, as well as to producing child pornography involving several minors, all under the age of approximately 5 years. Bostic was sentenced late last year to 315 years in federal prison.
Bostic stated that he utilized publicly available file-sharing software and e-mail to distribute child pornography, including the child pornography he produced himself. A review of his e-mail account showed that Bostic was a member of an e-mail group within which child pornography images of infants and toddlers were being routinely trafficked.
One of the e-mail accounts receiving these e-mails was later discovered to belong to Druck. On April 7, 2011, pursuant to a search warrant issued by the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, Druck’s residence was searched. Found therein were several external hard drives, a desktop computer, and other digital media.
These items were forensically previewed and found to contain more than 20,000 images, appearing to be mostly images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including images of infant-aged children (0-2 years of age) engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Druck was interviewed and admitted to receiving the e-mail group messages and child pornography.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Brant Cook, who prosecuted the case for the government along with Trial Attorney Michael W. Grant of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, U.S. Department of Justice, Judge Magnus-Stinson also imposed 10 years’ supervised release following Druck’s release from prison, and Druck was fined in the amount of $25,000.
This case was the result of a investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Indiana State Police, and the High Technology Investigative Unit of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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.projectsafechildhood.gov.
