River Ridge Man Arrested for Production of Child Pornography

CHRISTOPHER SOMMERS, 28, of River Ridge, Louisiana, was arrested by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday, June 18, 2010, on a criminal complaint charging crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.

According to documents filed in federal court, SOMMERS produced sexually explicit images involving the use of a toddler. Today, SOMMERS was brought before U.S. Magistrate Judge Louis Moore, Jr. who remanded him to the custody of the U.S. Marshal’s Service. If convicted, SOMMERS faces a mandatory minimum of fifteen (15) years’ imprisonment and a maximum penalty of thirty (30) years, followed by up to a lifetime term of supervised release, a $250,000.00 fine and SOMMERS can be required to register as a sex offender.

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 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 Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution of this case is being handled by Project Safe Childhood Coordinator, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian M. Klebba.