NEWS RELEASE
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A substitute teacher, formerly employed by the Bowling Green (Kentucky) School system, pleaded guilty on Monday in United States District Court, before United States District Judge Greg N. Stivers to a single count of possession of child pornography and a single count of distribution of child pornography, announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr.
Leon Lussier, age 49, of Bowling Green, Kentucky, was arrested by criminal complaint on September 1, 2015, and charged by grand jury indictment on September 16, 2016.
In court today, Lussier admitted that on three occasions, from June 23, 2015, to July 21, 2015, he participated in video conferencing rooms (chat rooms) where he was a participant in streaming child pornography through his webcam which was shared with other users in the room.
According to the initial charges, the international investigation that led to Lussier’s arrest started in January 2015, when the Toronto, Ontario, Canada Police Service, Child Exploitation Section, received information regarding the investigation of a group of individuals involved in the sexual abuse of children, including the distribution of child pornography. On June 23, 2015, a Toronto Police Service Detective Constable logged into an undercover software account and observed a person with the username “I luv boys” was streaming child pornography videos by sharing his computer screen. The user streamed four videos containing child pornography. Further investigation led law enforcement to Lussier as the person with username “I luv boys.”
A search warrant of Lussier’s Bowling Green home resulted in the seizure of numerous computer media. A preview of an HP Pavilion by a Computer Forensics Agent revealed several videos containing child pornography. Several of the videos had been previously viewed in a chat room by an undercover officer. The videos were being live-streamed on a computer with an IP address assigned to Lussier.
Lussier faces not less than 5 years and not more than 30 years in prison, a 500,000.00 fine, and supervised release of at least five years and could be any number of years, including life. Lussier is being held in the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending sentencing by Judge Stivers in Bowling Green.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless. This case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Canadian authorities, Bowling Green Police Department and U.S. Marshals Service.
This 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 individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”