Crimes against Children 6-7-12

Washington, DC
Christopher Burdette, 53, of Palm Harbor, Florida, pled guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of distribution of child pornography.

The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr.; Robert E. O’Neill, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Steven E. Ibison, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Tampa Field Division; and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

According to a factual proffer of evidence presented during today’s court proceeding, beginning on August 16, 2011, an MPD member of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force who was operating undercover as part of the investigation communicated with Burdette by instant messenger and e-mail. During the course of the communications, Burdette expressed interest in meeting an under-aged girl and engaging in sexual contact with the child.

Also during the course of the communications, Burdette sent the undercover investigator 50 videos of child pornography. During communications over the next several days, Burdette further expressed interest in watching the undercover investigator performing sex acts with the under-aged girl via web camera over the Internet and obtained items, including a sex toy, for the undercover to use with the under-aged girl.

Minneapolis, MN
United States Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced a Rosebud, South Dakota man charged with aggravated sexual abuse of a child and abusive sexual contact with a child was sentenced on Monday, June 4, 2012 by United States District Judge Roberto A. Lange. Gilbert Oliver Crow Eagle, Jr., age 58, was sentenced to 16 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a $400 special assessment to the Victim Assistance Fund.

Crow Eagle was indicted by a federal grand jury for the charges on February 8, 2011. On March 1, 2012, he was convicted of sexually abusing two minor children during incidents occurring between 1991 and 1999 on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. There was evidence that Crow Eagle also victimized others before this time period.

Omaha, NE
United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that on June 7, 2012, Leland Parker, Jr., of Macy, Nebraska, was sentenced on his conviction for abusive sexual contact with a minor. Chief United States District Court Judge Laurie Smith Camp sentenced Parker to 10 years’ imprisonment. Parker will also be required to serve 10 years of supervised release after his release from imprisonment. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

During the summer of 1999, Parker, then 16 years of age, had sexual contact with a juvenile female who was then only 9 years of age. The sexual assault occurred in the basement of the victim’s grandmother’s house on the Omaha Indian Reservation. Although the assault occurred in 1999, the victim did not tell anyone about it. However, the assault came to light in 2010 when the victim’s mother found a letter the victim had written to herself in 2008 describing the anguish she had experienced over the years as a sexual assault victim.