St. Tammany News

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten announced Wednesday that Slidell resident Danny Daugherty, 59, pled guilty in U.S. District Court to three counts of the production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Daugherty was arrested May 9, 2007, by the Slidell Police Department after a May 8 search of Daugherty's house at 1154 St. Augustine St. by Slidell Police and deputies with the St. Tammany Sheriff's Office turned up over 50,000 images of child pornography stored on Daugherty's computer hard drive. The police searched Daugherty's home on May 8 with a search warrant for stolen property. Instead, they found a laptop computer and a portable hard drive containing pictures of children being sexually molested. Three of the victims turned out to be local Slidell boys, ages 12 to 14, who had been photographed by Daugherty.

During the May 9 arrest, Daugherty resisted by pulling out a loaded Beretta 9mm semi-automatic pistol.

Slidell police spokesman Capt. Kevin Foltz said Daugherty was not charged with resisting arrest or possession of a firearm.

According to the factual basis from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Daugherty had just returned from working on a Murphy Oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico on May 8, when he was served with the warrant.

Since his arrest in May, Daugherty has been in federal custody.

The U.S. Attorney's factual basis document stated Sgt. Bobby Juge of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office found a folio filled with pictures of child pornography. Police confiscated Daugherty's computer and portable hard drive to prevent him from erasing the evidence.

The police contacted the FBI, which used its computer forensic unit to search the computer and hard drive. It found 50,000 photographs of children in sexual activities.

Five of the photographs were made by Daugherty and contained the images of three boys in his neighborhood. All three of the photographs were of the boys exposing their genitals to the camera. One of the victims told FBI agents Daugherty gave him $20 and a military knife to pose for the pictures. Another victim was caught either asleep or passed out on a bed, with his clothes off. The third victim allowed Daugherty to touch him and take pictures because, he told agents, Daugherty promised the boy he could drive Daugherty's car. The pictures showed the victim driving Daugherty's car while Daugherty was fondling the boy and taking pictures.

FBI Special Agent in Charge James Bernazzani did not mince words when talking about Daugherty.

"I can think of nothing more vile than a child being exploited for one's sexual pleasure," Bernazzani said. "It is disgusting, it is abhorrent, and for this predator, Mr. Daugherty, it is over."

FBI agents also found other photographs of children under 12 engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The FBI said Daugherty could also face charges of transporting child pornography across state lines for taking his computer with him to work on the oil rig.

Slidell Police Chief Freddie Drennan is happy that Daugherty has been taken off the streets.

"Dangerous predators like Daugherty need to be separated from society as long as possible," Drennan said. "This guilty plea is evidence of our partnership with other law enforcement agencies to remove predators and protect the children of Slidell."

Daugherty will be sentenced at 9 a.m. April 30 in U.S. District Court. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a possible maximum of 30 years in prison on the three counts of production of child pornography. He also faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on the count of possession of child pornography. After his release, Daugherty will be placed on supervised release for the rest of his life, will be required to provide authorities with a DNA sample, and will have to register as a sex offender with local law enforcement agencies.