Maine man sentenced to 6 years in prison for transporting child pornography

BANGOR, Maine — A Maine man was sentenced today to six years in federal prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for unlawfully transporting child pornography. The sentence is the result of an investigation conducted jointly with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Lawrence Labbe, 46, of LaGrange, Maine, pleaded guilty on Feb. 25, 2011 to unlawfully transporting child pornography in interstate commerce using a computer.

According to court documents, a member of the FBI Cybercrimes Task Force in Detroit, participated in an undercover online chat with Labbe in July 2009. During the online chat, Labbe transmitted 20 images of child pornography to the undercover agent.

ICE HSI agents learned through further investigation that Labbe resided in LaGrange, and was the person who sent the images to the undercover agent. ICE HSI agents secured a search warrant for Labbe's residence and discovered more than 400 images of child pornography on Labbe's computer.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE 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. ICE HSI 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.

The investigation was conducted jointly by ICE HSI, the FBI Cybercrimes Task Force and the Macomb County (Mich.) Sheriff's Office.