Registered sex offender sentenced in child pornography case

May 30--COLUMBUS -- A registered sex offender caught downloading child pornography, some involving very young children, during a 2018 investigation was sentenced to 136 months in prison, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia Charles Peeler announced.

Donald McFall, 33, of Columbus, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Clay Land to 136 months in prison and 20 years supervised release after pleading guilty to one count possession of child pornography. McFall was convicted for sexual abuse in the second degree in the Circuit Court of Russell County, Ala., in 2015. McFall was also convicted in 2016 for felony failure to register as a sex offender in Muscogee County Superior Court. McFall will be required to continue registering as a sex offender once he is released from prison under the Sex Offender Registration Act. Failing to register as required by federal law will result in prosecution, with penalties including imprisonment and fines. There is no parole in the federal system.

A detective with the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force was conducting an investigation in January 2018 into the trading and downloading of child pornography on peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Using a peer-to-program configured for law enforcement, 20 files of child pornography were downloaded from an IP address linked to a residence in Columbus. This IP address was traced to McFall, a registered sex offender. Law enforcement executed a search warrant at the residence in March 2018 and arrested McFall after child pornography was discovered on his phone. McFall admitted to having more than 600 images of child pornography on his computer and cellphone, including pornography involving prepubescent children.

"For those who engage in the evil world of producing and consuming child sexual material online: Law enforcement agents are looking for you, they will find you and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent allowed by the law," Peeler said in a news release. "There is a strong network of law enforcement agencies working 24 hours a day across our state, at every level, to track down criminals exploiting children. I want to commend the FBI, the Georgia ICAC Task Force and the GBI for their non-stop commitment to protecting our children and capturing child predators, and the Columbus Police Department for their excellent work in capturing this sexual offender identified by the task force."

"There is a statistical correlation between those that seek out, collect and view child sexual abuse images and those that are actively molesting children. The fact that Donald McFall was a registered sex offender and previously convicted of sexual abuse proves this point," Debbie Garner, GBI Special Agent in Charge and Commander of the Georgia ICAC Task Force, said. "We will continue to try to find and rescue child victims of sexual abuse that we would not have otherwise known about by working these child sexual abuse imagery investigations."

This case was investigated by the FBI, the Georgia ICAC Task Force, the GBI and the Columbus Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Crawford Seals prosecuted the case for the government.

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