Credit: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Mississippi
A D’Iberville man was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison followed by 17 years of supervised release for possession of visual depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
Benjamin Lee Poiroux, 40, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Gulfport. Poiroux was also ordered to pay $74,000 in restitution and a $3,000 special assessment under the Amy, Vicky and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2018.
According to court documents, Poiroux was encountered by FBI agents at the Gulfport Airport and gave consent for his electronic devices to be forensically searched. The search of his iPad, laptop, and cellular telephone revealed he possessed over 1,300 visual images and 75 videos of visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, also known as child sexual abuse materials.
Poiroux was indicted by a federal grand jury and pled guilty on Feb. 22 to possession of visual depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee and Special Agent in Charge Robert Eikhoff of the Federal Bureau of Investigation made the announcement.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Cyber Crime Division at the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Jones is prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
