A 53-year-old Davis man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to seven years in prison for distributing child pornography and obstruction of justice, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
Dennis Boyle was living in Orangevale and was a financial auditor for the state of California and a charter organization representative for the Boy Scouts when authorities began investigating him in 2015, according to a news release about the conviction.
According to court documents, law enforcement agents identified a user on a messenger service who was offering videos of child pornography in an online chat room. The investigation led to Boyle’s then-Sacramento County residence.
Between August and October 2015, Boyle distributed and received depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, then obstructed justice when he attempted to persuade a friend to delete electronic evidence stored on a laptop computer and on remote servers, Talbert said.
The friend reported the solicitation to authorities, and assisted in the investigation by recording a meeting with Boyle who admitted to viewing, downloading and distributing child pornography. Further, Boyle admitted to online chats with girls aged 14 to 18.
This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations team. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew D. Segal prosecuted the case.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.