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On last week, 24-year-old Arnold McCann of 4197 West 20^th St. Cleveland, OH., pled guilty to Computer Fraud and Pornography Involving Juveniles. McCann was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Lana Chaney, and presiding over this matter was the Honorable Judge Tess Stromberg. This guilty plea was the result of a plea agreement with prosecutors following a 2021 arrest.

          In November of 2017, Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Detectives were notified in reference to a juvenile’s social media account being compromised. An unknown subject was attempting to have the juvenile produce lewd and lascivious photos. The social media account was abandoned but remained active.

          In March of 2020, the social media account was opened by the creator and discovered that the account was still being used and contained child pornography. During the course of an extensive investigation, detectives were able to identify Arnold McCann as the individual who hacked the social media account which contained images of child pornography. McCann, who was residing in Ohio at the time, was determined to be a registered sex offender. Detectives were able to identify two of the children in the images as children who resided in Assumption Parish. Detectives applied for and were granted a warrant of arrest for McCann. McCann was arrested in Ohio and was subsequently transported to the Assumption Parish Detention Center where he was booked accordingly.

          Upon entering a guilty plea to the above-mentioned charges, pursuant to the plea agreement with prosecutors, McCann was sentenced to 20 years with the Louisiana Department of Corrections with credit for time served. Upon release from incarceration, McCann must register and notify as a sex offender or child predator for a period of 15 years.

Submitted by Public Information Officer Tyler Cavalier for 23^rd Judicial District Attorney Ricky L. Babin.