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United States Attorney Ronald C. Gathe, Jr. announced that U.S. Chief Judge Shelly D. Dick sentenced Richard Culver, age 41, of Denham Springs, Louisiana, to 240 months in federal prison following his conviction for receipt of child pornography.  Following his term of imprisonment, Culver will have to serve six years of supervised release and register as a sex offender for life.  Chief Judge Dick also ordered Culver to pay restitution to his victims in the amount of $126,000.

According to admissions made during his plea, from June 6, 2019 to June 8, 2019, Culver posed as a 13-year-old girl and communicated with a 9 year-old girl via a social media application.  During those communications, Culver sent the minor victim at least 15 images of child pornography and requested the minor victim to take and send similar photographs of herself to him.  Based on Culver’s persuasion, the minor victim sent him images and video, which portrayed the minor victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Louisiana State Police and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jamie A. Flowers, Jr., who also serves as Chief of the Criminal Division.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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 http://www.justice.gov/psc.