OKLAHOMA CITY, OK—DONOVAN GENE MERCER, 45, of Noble, Oklahoma, was sentenced on Friday to serve 265 months in federal prison for viewing and attempting to view child pornography, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

On January 15, 2015, a federal jury found Mercer guilty of three counts of accessing, and attempting to access, with intent to view two hard drives and an SD card that contained child pornography. According to evidence presented at trial, Mercer used a peer-to-peer file sharing network on approximately 53 separate days in 2012 and 2013 to download and access child pornography on two hard drives and an SD card at his home. Trial evidence also showed that a federal agent downloaded child pornography from Mercer’s IP address, using the same peer-to-peer file sharing network, in August 2013. Federal agents executed a search warrant on Mercer’s home in December 2013 and seized his computer equipment. According to evidence presented at trial, child pornography had been deleted from Mercer’s hard drives and SD card, but it was identified and recovered by a computer forensic examiner. Finally, three adult witnesses testified at trial that Mercer sexually molested them years ago when they were children.

Last Friday, United States District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange sentenced Mercer to 265 months in federal prison. After his term of incarceration, Mercer must register as a sex offender and comply with conditions of supervised release for ten years. Mercer has been in federal custody since the jury’s guilty verdict on January 15, 2015.

This sentence is the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brandon Hale and Chris M. Stephens.

Reference is made to court filings for further information.