Repeat sex offender sentenced to 35 years for producing, distributing child pornography

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware man was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in federal prison for producing and transporting child pornography after an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Delaware Child Predator Task Force joint investigation.

Harry K. Roche, 44, of Millsboro, Delaware, was also sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release following his prison sentence and will be required to continue to register as a sex offender in any place he lives, works or attends school.

Roche came to the attention of the Delaware Child Predator Task Force after it received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The cybertip reported that an AOL user, later identified as Roche, had distributed files containing child pornography through an AOL server.

On Jan. 31, 2013, Delaware Child Predator Task Force officers executed a search warrant at Roche’s apartment, which was located above the Bluewater Grill restaurant, in Millsboro, Delaware. Officers seized numerous computers, cellular phones and external digital storage devices. A later forensic examination of that computer equipment revealed that Roche had collected and distributed hundreds of pictures and movies of child pornography, virtually all of which featured prepubescent boys engaged in sexual acts. In a number of these images and movies, the child victims were bound, gagged or blindfolded as they were violently raped by adult males.

Also during the forensic examination of Roche’s iPhone, an examiner discovered a series of photographs of Roche in the bedroom of his residence engaged in a sexual act with a young boy. HSI along with the Delaware Child Predator Task Force worked together to identify the child victim, who resided in Delaware at the time. Roche distributed the images that he had produced, along with other images of child pornography, to other child sex offenders.

Roche had a previous history of criminal child predation and was convicted of sexual harassment of a minor boy in 1994 and again convicted in 2003 for dealing in child pornography and possession of child pornography that involved Roche producing sexually explicit images of children in his Magnolia, Delaware home. He was a registered sex offender at the time of his offense.

“The safety of our children is of vital importance, and we do everything within our power to protect it,” said Abigail Layton, Commander of the Child Predator Task Force of the Delaware Department of Justice. “The link between those who possess child pornography and those who commit physical offenses against children is too strong to take lightly, and the task force is proud to work with federal law enforcement officials to find these dangerous predators.”

This investigation was also conducted under HSI's Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 12,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal 2014, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE 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-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI's Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

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.