U.S. Forest Service Employee Pleads Guilty to Federal Charge of Receipt of Child Pornography

JACKSONVILLE, FL—United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announced today that Derek Alan Lee (44, Orange Park), pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to receiving images and videos depicting child pornography over the Internet. At the time of his arrest on December 10, 2010, Lee was an employee with the United States Forest Service. Lee faces a minimum of five years and up to 20 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, and a potential life term of supervised release. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to court documents, in November 2010, an investigator with the Florida Attorney General’s Office, Child Predator Cybercrime Unit, began an online undercover investigation to identify individuals using the Internet to share images and videos of child pornography. The investigator identified a particular host computer that was sharing several hundred files depicting child pornography. Subpoenaed documents from the Internet service provider revealed that this host computer resolved to the residence of Derek Alan Lee in Orange Park, Florida.

According to court documents, on December 10, 2010, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Lee’s residence in Orange Park. After securing the residence, the agents interviewed Lee’s stepson, Jeffrey Dean McMillan (age 21). In summary, McMillan admitted that he possessed child pornography on his computer, and he indicated that images and videos of child pornography were also located on his stepfather’s (Lee’s) computer. McMillan was placed under arrest. The agents contacted Lee and invited Lee to return to the residence. A short time later, Lee arrived at the residence and was interviewed. When asked what kind of files he had on his computer, Lee responded, “If you have a search warrant, you found that I have child pornography on my computer.” Lee stated that he viewed the images “every couple of weeks,” and that he has been downloading child pornography for 10 years. After the interview, Lee was arrested.

According to court documents, subsequent forensic analysis of the computer media obtained from the residence revealed that both Lee and McMillan possessed hundreds of images and videos of child pornography on their respective computers. Specifically, Lee’s computer contained approximately 111 videos and 116 images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Lee also maintained a collection of incest stories that featured adults engaged in the sexual molestation of children.

McMillan pleaded guilty in a related federal case to possession of child pornography on March 15, 2011, and he faces up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a potential life term of supervised release. McMillan’s sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Child Predator Cybercrime Unit of the Florida Attorney General’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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 the Project Safe Childhood initiative, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.