N.O.-area men sentenced in child-porn convictions

The Advocate

Published: Jan 9, 2009

NEW ORLEANS — Two New Orleans-area men were sentenced this week to federal prison time on child pornography convictions in separate cases brought under a nationwide effort to combat child sexual exploitation, prosecutors said Thursday.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon sentenced Agegnehu Tsega, 32, of Slidell, to 39 months in prison followed by a life term of supervised release, prosecutors said.

Tsega pleaded guilty Oct. 1 to possession of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors.

Tsega had approximately 9,000 images and video depicting the sexual victimization of children, prosecutors said.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lance M. Africk sentenced Terence Rhodes, 66, of Metairie, to 78 months in prison followed by a life term of supervised release, prosecutors said.

Africk ordered that Rhodes is not to have unsupervised contact with anyone under age 18, cannot use a computer or the Internet and must give a DNA sample, prosecutors said.

Rhodes pleaded guilty Oct. 2 to possession of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors.

Rhodes was in possession of approximately 5,900 images depicting the sexual victimization of children at his home in Metairie, prosecutors said.

Tsega, who is from Ethiopia, will be deported from the United States once he is released from prison.

Project Safe Childhood combines the efforts of U.S. attorneys’ offices and other federal, state and local resources to catch people who exploit children via the Internet, prosecutors said in a statement Thursday.
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Factual Basis from the United States District Court Eastern District of Louisiana (PDF)
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Man gets 3 years in child porn case
The Times-Picayune
Thursday, January 08, 2009
By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch

A 32-year-old Slidell man was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to more than three years in prison for possessing 9,000 images and 50 videos depicting the sexual victimization of children, some younger than 12.

Agegnehu Tsega, who is from Ethiopia, received 39 months in prison. U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon also ruled that the prison term be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. But according to the U.S. attorney’s office, U.S. immigration officials instead are planning to deport Tsega back to Ethiopia after he is released from prison.

Tsega pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on Oct. 1. The charge carries up to 10 years in prison, a possible lifetime term of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and registration as a sex offender.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents received information that Tsega had purchased access to sexually explicit Web sites on at least three occasions, according to a statement he signed as part of a plea agreement.

On March 25, the agents went to Tsega’s Wellington Lane residence in Slidell and Tsega gave written consent to a search of his home, authorities said. Agents seized computers, DVDs and CDs, authorities said.

Computer records revealed Tsega had used various search terms — such as “kinderkutje,” “hard Lolitas,” “youngvideomodels” and tinymodel” — to find online sites where he could download the sexually explicit images.

Tsega told authorities that he had been downloading similar images since 2003. He said he was addicted to the images and would view them weekly, according to his statement.

The U.S. attorney’s office said the case was brought forward as part of Project Safe Childhood, a national program launched in May 2006 and run by the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

The program uses federal, state and local resources to find, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and help victims.