Child Pornographer Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison

RALEIGH—United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that today in federal court today, Senior United States District Judge W. Earl Britt sentenced BRUCE WAYNE LORETTE , 34, of Leland, to 360 months’ imprisonment, followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

Mr. Walker stated, “The horror of the abuse in this case is unspeakable. The sentence Judge Britt delivered today sends just the message it should: The sexual abuse of the most vulnerable members of our community will not be tolerated.”

LORETTE was first charged in an 11-count indictment filed on October 24, 2012 charging him with 10 counts of receiving child pornography and one count of possession. After further evidence was discovered, LORETTE was named in a criminal information filed on March 7, 2013 charging him with producing child pornography. On May 13 2013, LORETTE pled guilty to that charge.

According to the investigation, LORETTE was first detected by undercover police who found that he was offering child pornography over a peer-to-peer network. After executing a search warrant at his Leland residence and the commencement of forensic examination of his computer equipment, investigators learned that LORETTE was not merely downloading and offering child pornography for download, but that he was creating child pornography of his own by victimizing an infant.

This case was part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, a national program aimed at ensuring that criminals exploiting children are effectively prosecuted by making full use of all available law enforcement resources at every level. For more information about this important national project, Project Safe Childhood, go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Investigation of this case was led by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jay Exum prosecuted the case for the United States.