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NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that BRANDON WARD, age 34,

a resident of Covington, Louisiana, was sentenced to 240 months imprisonment by United States

District Judge Eldon E. Fallon after previously pleading guilty to a one-count Indictment charging

him with distribution of images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children, including

children as young as less than one (1) year old, in violation of 18 U.S.C. ‘ 2252(a)(2). Judge

Fallon also sentenced WARD to five (5) years of supervised release after his term of imprisonment

and pay a $100 mandatory special assessment fee. WARD will also be required to register as a

sex offender. Judge Fallon scheduled a restitution hearing for December 16, 2021.

 

According to court documents, in about October 2019, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of

Investigation operating in an undercover capacity accessed a chat room within an instant

messaging mobile application known to be a haven for purveyors of digital files depicting the

sexual victimization of children. Between September 29, 2019, and October 13, 2019, an

individual subsequently determined to be WARD posted over two dozen links to online file

storage service accounts. Each link contained hundreds of videos depicting pre-pubescent children

engaging in sexually explicit conduct with adults. In total, WARD uploaded at least 47,000 files

to the accounts. For example, on October 31, 2019, a special agent with the FBI reviewed the

contents of one of WARD’s accounts, and it contained approximately 151 files, all of which

depicted the sexual victimization of children as young as less than one year old.

 

Additionally, a second FBI special agent acting in an undercover capacity participated in direct

communication with WARD via Skype, phone, and text message. In the conversations, WARD

claimed he had been in contact with an 8-year-old female (Minor 1) who had a crush on him.

WARD sent non-sexually explicit pictures he took of Minor 1 to the undercover agent. WARD

also instructed the undercover agent, who claimed to be babysitting a six-year-old female, to

engage in sexually explicit conduct with the child while WARD watched via Skype.

 

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the

growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department

of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys= Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation

and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources

to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well

as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit

www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

 

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this

matter. Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg is in charge of the prosecution.

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