Former Louisiana sheriff sentenced on child porn charges

NEWARK, N.J. — A Louisiana man was sentenced Tuesday to 39 months in prison for trading images of child pornography with a convicted producer of child pornography involving abused young boys in Thailand. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Roger Elkins, 45, of Bossier City, La., pleaded guilty to the distribution and receipt of child pornography.

According to court documents, Elkins, who was employed by the DeSoto Parish (La.) Sheriff's Office until his arrest, admitted that he exchanged instant messages with New Jersey resident Wayne Nelson Corliss, 61, of Union City, N.J., from April 2002 through April 2003. These messages included sexually explicit comments and discussions between the two, in which they shared mutual admiration of certain images and videos of child pornography. The messages also indicated that the two routinely traded, exchanged, and trafficked in these images and videos, including images of sadistic or masochistic conduct.

The chat logs of the instant messages revealed that Elkins sent graphic images of child pornography to Corliss, and that Elkins received graphic images and videos of child pornography from Corliss in return. Elkins also boasted in his instant messages with Corliss that he had previously abused a boy for whom he babysat.

HSI agents recovered 130 images of child pornography from Corliss' computer that were traced directly back to Elkins.

Corliss had traveled to Thailand to engage in illegal sexual acts with minor boys. There, he visited the brothel run by John Wrenshall, 65, a Canadian citizen who arranged trips to his home in Thailand during which U.S. citizens and others paid him to engage in anal sex, oral sex and other sexual acts with Thai boys – some as young as four years old.

Corliss was sentenced on Nov. 16, 2009 to 20 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release. Wrenshall was sentenced on Jan. 31, 2011 to 25 years in prison.

"HSI will use all of its resources to investigate and arrest online predators," said Andrew McLees, acting special agent in charge of HSI in Newark. "These terrible crimes deprive our children of their innocence and childhood, and impact their lives for years."

In addition to the prison term, Elkins was sentenced to three years of supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE 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. ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE. 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.