North Dakota man sentenced to 6 ½ years following his guilty plea on child pornography charges

FARGO, N.D. – A northeastern North Dakota man was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison Tuesday for possessing and receiving child pornography. This sentence resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and Grand Forks Police Department.

Cody John O'Hara, 25, of Cavalier, N.D., was sentenced to 78 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. O'Hara was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $500, and to pay a $300 special assessment to the Crime Victim's Fund. O'Hara pleaded guilty Sept. 10 to three counts of possessing and receiving child pornography.

Following information developed during the course of the investigation, a search warrant was obtained and executed for O'Hara's residence April 2. During the search warrant execution, officers seized various electronic media that was later forensically examined by state officials. The examination of this media revealed more than 5,000 images and 16 videos depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

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-DHS-2ICE 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-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or its online resource for reporting child sexual exploitation.

HSI is a founding member and the U.S. representative of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.