Maryland man sentenced in Indiana to 30 years in international child pornography conspiracy case

INDIANAPOLIS — A Maryland man was found guilty Thursday by a federal jury, and was sentenced Friday to serve 30 years in prison for his participation in a global online child pornography conspiracy.

This conviction and sentence were announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Hogsett, Southern District of Indiana.

Following a four-day trial, Roger Lee Loughry Sr., 57, of Baltimore, was found guilty Jan. 31 by a federal jury in the Southern District of Indiana for his role as an administrator of an online child pornography bulletin board. He was convicted of one count of conspiring to advertise child pornography, one count of conspiring to distribute child pornography, 12 counts of advertising child pornography, and two counts of distributing child pornography.

Loughry was sentenced Feb. 1 by U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Baker in the Southern District of Indiana. In addition to his prison term, Loughry was sentenced to serve a lifetime of supervised release.

Evidence presented at trial revealed that Loughry had been an active member of a child pornography bulletin board since November 2005, and he participated in numerous administrative functions on the online board during his membership, including adding new members to the board. In addition, evidence introduced at trial established that Loughry's home was searched in September 2008, at which time computers and computer media were seized. A review of the seized materials discovered images and videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

The charges against Loughry were a result of "Operation Nest Egg," a joint investigation led by the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Operation Nest Egg, launched in February 2008, targeted 26 defendants charged in the Southern District of Indiana, as well as about 500 additional individuals located throughout the world, for their involvement in an online group dedicated to trading images of child pornography.

Loughry had previously been tried and convicted of the same charges in April 2010. On Oct. 11, 2011, his convictions were reversed and the case was remanded for a new trial.

The case against Loughry was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. DeBrota, Southern District of Indiana, and CEOS Trial Attorneys Keith Becker and Amy Larson.

The investigation was conducted jointly by CEOS's High Technology Investigative Unit, USPIS and HSI, with assistance from the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, Indiana State Police, and numerous local and international law enforcement agencies across the United States and Europe.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide 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. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 or by completing 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 & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-843-5678.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.