Henderson Man Sentenced to 17½ Years in Federal Prison for Child Pornography Crimes

LAS VEGAS—A convicted sex offender has been sentenced to 17½ years in federal prison after authorities found over 500 images and 22 videos of child pornography at his Henderson home, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

Mark David Chanley, 51, of Henderson, Nevada, was sentenced on Tuesday, August 31, 2010, by Senior U.S. District Judge Lloyd D. George to 210 months in prison and lifetime supervised release. Chanley was convicted of receipt of child pornography in May 2010, following a bench trial before Judge George. Chanley has a prior conviction in Colorado for sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy, and thus was subject to a 15-year minimum mandatory sentence under federal law.

On March 28, 2007, a Henderson Police Department Detective was contacted by a correctional facility employee in Colorado who advised that one of their inmates was receiving letters from Marco Donaonelli Cianciulli (an “aka” used by Mark David Chanley), in Henderson, Nevada. Chaney was an inmate in the same correctional facility and had been released just two months earlier. The letters included conversations and pictures of young boys wearing minimal clothing. Chanley told the inmate in his letters that he found pictures of young boys on an Internet “pay site” and asked the inmate if he wanted him to “download something” for him. Chanley spoke of young boys as “cuties,” and described taking pictures of them with various cameras. Chanley also spoke of making attempts to sit near children traveling alone, and of his plans to open a “confidential printing facility” for people with similar interests.

On May 1, 2007, Henderson Police Department officers executed a search warrant at the defendant’s residence in Henderson, and recovered 512 images and 22 videos of child pornography on Chanley’s computers and compact discs. The images and videos had previously been identified as known child pornography, much of which was produced in Russia. Some of the images were obtained over the “usenet,” a group of servers across the world which people use for numerous purposes, but also for trading images and videos of child pornography.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Henderson Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nancy J. Koppe and Roger Yang.

The 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 U.S. Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) of the U.S. Department of Justice, 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.