A Mississippi man was sentenced to more than 8 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for possession of abusive child pornography materials depicting minors, including some toddlers, engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

According to court documents, Timothy Daniel Steele (a/k/a Timothy Daniel Gantenbein) , 26, of Flowood, possessed thousands of images and videos of child pornography depicting adult men engaging in sex with minor children.  Steele was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 13, 2021, and pled guilty on July 7, 2023, to possession of child pornography.

Steele was ordered to pay $324,876.39 as restitution to his victims and pay $5,000 under the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2018. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee of the Southern District of Mississippi and Acting Special Agent in Charge Eric DeLaune of Homeland Security Investigations made the announcement.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Flowood Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenda R. Haynes 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.