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December 7, 2011Panama City, FL, United StatesChild Exploitation

Tyndall Air Force Base engineer sentenced for receipt of child pornography

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – A former government civilian employee who had worked as an engineer at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City was sentenced Wednesday to 97 months in federal prison for receipt and possession of child pornography, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Bay County Sheriff's Office.

Derryl Lee Sullivan , 54, of Lynn Haven, Fla., pleaded guilty in September to two counts of receiving and possessing child pornography. The charges were based on evidence that between Oct. 19 and March 31, 2010, Sullivan downloaded images and videos containing child pornography from a peer-to-peer network.

Sullivan was also sentenced to a 15-year term of supervised release, which he will be required to serve upon completion of his prison sentence.

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 or 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 and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.

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