Erie Man Sentenced to 24 years in Prison for Child Exploitation Offenses

ERIE, Pa. - A former resident of Erie, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 24 years in jail, to be followed by ten years supervised release and ordered to make restitution in the amount of $12,000 on his conviction of violating federal laws relating to the sexual exploitation of children, Acting United States Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman announced today.

United States District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter imposed the sentence on Shawn Everett Daly, 41.

According to information presented to the court, Daly distributed and received computer images and videos depicting prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. An examination of Daly’s digital devices and cloud storage accounts revealed the presence of thousands of movies and images depicting young children being sexually abused. Daly has a prior conviction in Pennsylvania for the indecent assault of two minor females.

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 the 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 locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Assistant United States Attorney Christian A. Trabold prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

Acting United States Attorney Kaufman commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pennsylvania State Police for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Daly.