Massachusetts sex offender sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on child pornography charges

BOSTON – A West Brookfield, Mass., man with a prior child pornography conviction was sentenced Jan. 15 in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mass. The sentence is the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Massachusetts State Police.

Christopher Boucher, 44, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of material involving the sexual exploitation of a minor. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release with special conditions relating to convicted sex offenders.

In January 2012, Massachusetts State Police detectives executed a state search warrant at Boucher's former residence in Ware, Mass., and seized a laptop that contained a video depicting multiple rapes of a young girl known as "Vicky." Boucher then told the police that he used file-sharing programs on the Internet to obtain images of children from 12 to 15-years-old engaged in sexual acts. Boucher also stated that he used the e-Mule file-sharing program to download a child pornography video belonging to the Vicky series.

In 2000, Boucher pleaded guilty in federal court to possession of child pornography. In 2001, he was sentenced to five years of probation with six months of home detention.

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.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow, District of Massachusetts, prosecuted this case on behalf of the U.S. government.