Deep River Man Sentenced to Three Years for Child Porn in New Haven, Connecticut

DEEP RIVER - Demian Wells, 33, of Winthrop Road, was recently sentenced after pleading guilty in July to one count of possession of child pornography.

United States District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven sentenced Wells on Mar. 4 to 36 months of imprisonment, and following that, five years of supervised release where Wells must perform 200 hours of community service.

According to court documents and statements, on Oct. 11, 2006, Wells knowingly possessed computer disks that contained more than 600 images of child pornography.

He was subsequently arrested on Mar. 19, 2007 and was released on a $200,000 bond with strict conditions, including electronic monitoring by the United States Probation Office, on Apr. 4, 2007.

Connecticut and New Jersey Office of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) first conducted the investigation leading to this case.

The agencies were looking into a commercial website which called itself "Illegal.CP" and undercover agents purchased access to the website which offered access to thousands of images and videos of child pornography through 20 and 30 days' duration.

Wells was identified as one of the individuals accessing the website and during interviews with law enforcement agents admitted that he visited child pornography sites and had downloaded child pornography.

Consenting to a search of his storage locker, law enforcement agents found numerous DVDs and computer disks with hundreds of still images of child pornography that Wells downloaded from the "Illegal CP" website.

More than 600 images of child pornography were found including the discovery of child pornography movies.

Wells is required to register as a sexual offender and during his supervised release is prohibited from having unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.

Judge Arterton authorized the United States Probation Office to place monitoring software on any computer Wells will use and conduct searches of Wells' residence if the Office has reason to believe Wells is not meeting conditions of his supervised release.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Alina P. Reynolds.

Kevin J. O'Connor, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, noted that this prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood Initiative aimed at protecting children from sexual exploitation.

More information about Project Safe Childhood is available by visiting www.projectsafechildhood.gov.