A Gulfport man was sentenced to serve 360 months in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for producing visual depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, announced U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Derrick Patrick Flanagan, 38, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Gulfport.  In addition to his term of imprisonment, Flanagan was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 and a $10,000 assessment under the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2018.

According to court documents, Flanagan was identified in February of 2022 in an investigation brought to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office Cyber Crime Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation by the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.  The Sheriff’s Office had received two CyberTip Reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  These CyberTips were ultimately found to be related to Hancock County Deputy Derrick Flanagan, who was assigned to work at the Diamondhead Police Department and resided in Gulfport.

Forensic examinations of a laptop and cellular telephones recovered during the investigation found multiple visual depictions of child sexual abuse material.  In addition, the investigation recovered over 40,000 lines of chats sent via a SnapChat App that corresponded to multiple visual depictions.

Flanagan pleaded guilty on April 20, 2023, to production of child pornography.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, Cyber Crime Division, investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Jones prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.