U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Christopher Michael Sommers, a 42-year-old resident of Slidell, Louisiana, was sentenced on December 18, 2024, for possession of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors. The sentencing took place in New Orleans under United States District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo.
Sommers received a sentence of ten years imprisonment followed by fifteen years of supervised release and was ordered to pay a $100 mandatory special assessment fee. His sentence included a ten-year mandatory minimum enhancement due to a prior conviction on December 13, 2011, for receipt of child pornography.
The case against Sommers originated from an undercover online investigation conducted by the Apache Junction Police Department in Arizona targeting individuals sharing Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). On April 3, 2024, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents executed a federal search warrant at Sommers's residence in Slidell with assistance from the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation. During the search, authorities found a Samsung USB thumb drive containing 950 images and videos depicting sexual victimization of minors.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The project aims to locate and prosecute individuals exploiting children via the internet while also identifying and rescuing victims.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office acknowledged contributions from various agencies including Homeland Security Investigations; the St Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office; The Apache Junction Police Department; and the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian M. Klebba led the prosecution as Chief of the Financial Crimes Unit.