United States v. Chandler, No. 12-30410 (5th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseChandler was a police officer when he joined “Dreamboard,” an online bulletin board which conditioned membership on sharing child pornography. He posted at least 117 images, most of which were children, ages eight to 14 years, posing or engaging in sexual acts with adults. Charged with: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, 18 U.S.C. 2252A(g); conspiring to advertise the distribution of child pornography, 18 U.S.C. 2251(d)(1), (e), and conspiring to distribute child pornography, 18 U.S.C. 2252A(a)(2)(A), (b)(1), Chandler pleaded guilty to engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, and the other counts were dismissed. The district court calculated Chandler’s Guidelines range as 240-293 months. In the PSR, the probation officer stated that there were no factors warranting a departure or variance. The district court rejected Chandler’s motion for downward departure and imposed a sentence of 420 months of imprisonment, noting Chandler’s abuse of his public office as a law enforcement officer, his use of other people’s internet connections to attempt to hide his participation in the scheme, and his frequent posts. The Fifth Circuit remanded, holding that Chandler’s position as a police officer did not justify the increased sentence because there was no evidence that he used his position to facilitate the offense.
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