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July 31, 2015Scranton, PA, United StatesChild Exploitation

Pennsylvania man gets over 16 years in federal prison for child pornography

SCRANTON – A 58-year-old Columbia County, Pennsylvania, man was sentenced to 200 months in prison Thursday for producing child pornography. The investigation that led to the sentence was a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Berwick Police Department, and Columbia County District Attorney’s Office effort.

Rickie Sitler previously pleaded guilty to using a four-year-old child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing images, admitting to committing the crime between late November and early December 2014.  He was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2015. At his sentencing, the judge also ordered him to serve 10 years on supervised release following his prison sentence and to pay a special assessment of $100.

This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,300 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196. 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.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

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