Pennsylvania man sentenced for possessing child pornography

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — A Johnstown resident was sentenced to 42 months in prison Thursday for possessing child pornography following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Douglas Teeter, 37, will also serve 15 years of supervised release following the completion of his federal prison sentence.

According to information presented at court, Teeter was identified as part of an ongoing HSI operation to identify people downloading child pornography from the Internet. HSI, with assistance from the Johnstown Police Department, conducted a consent search of Teeter's residence and took custody of a computer found there in March 2009. The computer was found to contain videos and images containing child pornography.

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.