Adairsville Man Sentenced for Possessing Child Pornography

RICKY LEE MCDANIEL, 53, of Adairsville, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Harold L. Murphy to serve five years in federal prison on charges of possessing child pornography.

“Child pornography is a permanent record of sexual child abuse, and its circulation on the Internet haunts the victims for the rest of their lives,” said Acting United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “The defendant in this case had over 1,200 images and four video clips of child abuse stored on dozens of diskettes, and he will now receive the punishment that federal law provides for such deplorable conduct.”

Gordon County Sheriff Mitch Ralston said of the case: “I am pleased with the results of the arrest and prosecution of Ricky Lee McDaniel in connection with the child pornography charges brought against him by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A defendant such as this is a menace not only to the children in our community, but to children elsewhere in our country. I recognize and applaud all of the intensive investigative work put into this case by the FBI, and I also commend the detective from my own staff who very capably assisted the FBI with this matter. I look forward to enhanced cooperation between the Sheriff's Office and federal authorities in detecting, arresting, and prosecuting persons involved in such vile activities.”

MCDANIEL was sentenced to five years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

MCDANIEL was convicted of these charges on July 21, 2009 after a two-day trial.

According to Acting United States Attorney Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating MCDANIEL, after an investigation in Oklahoma linked MCDANIEL’s Internet service to the receipt of child pornography. FBI agents assisted Gordon County Sheriff’s Department investigators in executing a search warrant of MCDANIEL’s home in Calhoun. Agents found, among other things, over 1,200 images and four video clips of child pornography being sexually abused on approximately 60 floppy diskettes. Several of the children shown being raped and abused in the images and videos were previously identified victims of child abuse cases from across the country.

This case was investigated by special agents of the FBI and investigators from the Gordon County Sheriff’s Department.

Assistant United States Attorney William G. Traynor prosecuted the case.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney's Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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