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August 28, 2013Minneapolis, MN, United StatesChild Exploitation

Minnesota man sentenced to 5 years for receiving child pornography

MINNEAPOLIS – A southern Minnesota man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to five years in federal prison for receiving child pornography.

This sentence resulted from a criminal investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in cooperation with the Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office, and the Minneapolis Police Department.

Harold Duane Davenport, 47, of Le Center, Minn., was sentenced to 60 months in prison on one count of receiving child pornography. Davenport was indicted on Nov. 5, 2012, and pleaded guilty March 20, 2013.

In his plea agreement, Davenport admitted that from Sept. 16, 2009 through Feb. 6, 2010, he knowingly received visual depictions via the Internet that involved minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In addition, Davenport admitted that he possessed more than 600 images of child pornography, including images and videos portraying sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence.

In addition to his prison sentence, Davenport must also register as a sex offender and pay a special assessment fine to the Crime Victim’s Fund.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-843-5678.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.

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