Former Oak Harbor Police Officer Sentenced to 42 Months in Prison for Possession of Child Pornography

           A former Oak Harbor Police Officer was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 42 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release for possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. JOHN LITTLE, 55, pleaded guilty in March 2017. LITTLE came to the attention of law enforcement in the summer of 2016, when he was identified as someone who had exchanged sexually explicit messages with a 13-year-old girl in New Mexico. When confronted by FBI agents, LITTLE admitted using the Kik internet messaging app to engage in sexually explicit chats and image/video exchanges with several minors. At the sentencing hearing, Chief U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez ordered LITTLE to register as a sex offender and said, “the possession of child pornography creates and maintains the market for the sexual exploitation of children.”

           “Not only did this defendant betray the trust the community placed in him as a police officer, but the fact that he once served as a school resource officer makes his crimes all the more troubling,” said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. “Our children deserve better. The lengthy sentence imposed today will ensure this defendant can no longer victimize the most vulnerable in our communities.”

           According to records filed in the case, after law enforcement identified LITTLE as the person engaged in the sexually explicit chats with the New Mexico teen, agents served a search warrant on LITTLE’s home. A forensic examination of LITTLE’s phone revealed a number of sexually explicit chats and picture/video exchanges between LITTLE and minors. Law enforcement also identified several dozen videos of child pornography stored on his phone.

          LITTLE served for more than 27 years as an Oak Harbor Police Officer.

          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.justice.gov/psc

          The case was investigated by the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Hampton.