Mother pleads guilty to producing, transporting and possessing child pornography

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A mother from Alva, Fla., pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of possession of child pornography, two counts of transporting child pornography and two counts of producing child pornography.

According to court documents, Candice Marie Miller, 31, knowingly produced images of her two minor children engaging in sexually explicit conduct. She sent many of these pornographic images over the Internet, to a man whom she met in an Internet chat room. Miller possessed in excess of 500 images of child pornography.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the participation from the FBI's Innocent Images Task Force and the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

Miller faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison for the possession count, five to 20 years imprisonment for each transportation count, and 15 to 30 years in prison for each production count.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Yolande G. Viacava.

The investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to identify, investigate and arrest those who prey on children, including human traffickers, international sex tourists, Internet pornographers, and foreign-national predators whose crimes make them deportable.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.