FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2009 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/KYW	CONTACT: DAWN MASDEN PHONE: (502) 582-5911 FAX: (502) 582-5097

LOUISVILLE MAN SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT FOR RECEIVING AND POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

LOUISVILLE, KY -United States District Judge Charles R. Simpson, III, sentenced David Ehle, age 60, of Louisville, Kentucky, in Jefferson County, to 30 years’ imprisonment for two charges of violating federal child exploitation laws, Acting United States Attorney Candace G. Hill of the Western District of Kentucky announced today. Ehle had previously pled guilty to receiving and possessing numerous images of child pornography. Judge Simpson also imposed a term of lifetime supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

Acting United States Attorney Hill praised the cooperative efforts of law enforcement and child advocates in their response to this very serious case. As justification for imposing the statutory maximum sentence applicable to Ehle, Judge Simpson observed that “children are not in a position to defend themselves against this behavior.” He went on to observe that a significant sentence was necessary in this case to protect the public from further criminal conduct by Ehle.

According to court records, on March 30, 2007, Child Protective Services (CPS) forwarded a report to the Louisville Metro Police Department Crimes Against Children Unit (LMPD CACU), which revealed that a six-year-old white female (“child”) had disclosed that her paternal grandfather, David Ehle, had sexually molested her. The child also reported that Ehle had shown her pornography on his computer.

On April 18, 2007, a psychologist with Children First conducted a forensic interview with the child. During the interview, the child confirmed the information that had been relayed to CACU. Additionally, when asked about the images Ehle had shown the child on the computer, the child described images that included pictures of children and teenagers.

On April 19, 2007, an LMPD Detective interviewed Ehle (a former dispatcher with LMPD), and his wife at the CACU office located at 435 South 3 rd Street, Louisville, Kentucky. Both came to the office voluntarily. Ehle signed an advice of rights form and agreed to talk to the detectives. During the course of the interview, Ehle admitted to a scenario involving a sexual encounter with the child when she was approximately two-years-old, but blamed the child for the incident.

Ehle gave the officers consent to search his home and automobile and seize any evidence pertaining to the investigation concerning sex abuse and pornography (including computer-related and hard copy evidence). Ehle signed a consent to search and photograph form authorizing a search of his residence as well as seizure of any items relating to sex abuse and pornography - to include computer related and hard copy items. Ehle also admitted that there was likely child pornography on his computer, including images of children under the age of 15. He stated that he often used news groups to download things from the Internet. Ehle stated that he would scan what he downloaded and then delete things he didn’t want. The entire interview including the signing of the forms was recorded on DVD.

On April 19, 2007, at approximately 4:50 p.m., LMPD officers conducted search at the Ehles’ residence pursuant to the consent authorized by David Ehle. The residence was photographed during the course of the search. Law enforcement officials seized David Ehle’s computer from his office, Mary Ehle’s computer from the living room, a lap top computer from David Ehle’s office, and numerous discs and VHS tapes. Of note, officers located three stacks of computer discs, each containing approximately one hundred discs. Two stacks were labeled BBV with a number designating each disc that appeared to be dates. The third stack was labeled IBB with a similar numbering system. BBV discs were videos and IBB discs were still images. BBV discs had child pornography videos that were extremely graphic. The videos included graphic depictions of child rape and bondage.

The LMPD CACU Detective and an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney consulted with federal authorities concerning potential federal charges. Following that consultation, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Richard Boswell requested a federal search warrant authorizing further review of several items taken from the Ehle residence, specifically: (a) an IMAC computer bearing serial number QT2402S8NOS; (b) an Armor computer tower bearing serial number VA8000BWC0602023195; (c) 2000 notebook computer bearing serial number 20187981 0476; and (d) various CDs and DVDs.

The computer items were submitted to the Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory in Louisville, Kentucky. An examination of the computers and computer storage items revealed the presence of numerous images of child pornography, that is, images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2256(8)(A). The examiner recovered 245 video files and 5,397 still images containing child pornography from the computers.

The images of child pornography recovered in this case (both from the computers and on the CDs/DVDs) were submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for comparison to the Child Victim Identification Program (a database containing the hash values of images of child pornography with known, i.e., identified, child victims). The Department of Justice has obtained Victim Impact Statements relating to several of the identified victims and those statements are maintained by the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in Washington, D.C. Victim impact statements relating to three identified child victims whose images were found in Ehle’s collection were filed in the court record. In order to comply with 18 U.S.C. §§ 3771(a)(4), (a)(8), (c)(1), (d)(1), (e), and Fed. R. Crim. P. 49.1, the statements were redacted to protect the privacy interests of the victims.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov .

Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless prosecuted the case. The Louisville Metro Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit conducted the investigation with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Kentucky Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory.