Moses Lake man sentenced for downloading child porn

SPOKANE — A Moses Lake man will be spending nine years in federal prison for downloading images of child pornography over the internet.

Daniel Lee Vadnais, 53, of Moses Lake, previously entered a guilty plea in May to receipt of child pornography. Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice imposed a nine-year term in federal prison, which will be followed up by 20 years of court ordered supervision after his sentence is served. Vadnais will be required to register as a sex offender and agreed to give up the computers he used to receive child pornography.

Vadnais' arrest stems from an officer who was working undercover for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Rochester, N.Y. discovering Vadnais was using peer-to-peer file sharing to download child pornography images on the internet. FBI special agents obtained a federal search warrant for Vadnais’ Moses Lake residence, which was executed April 6, 2016.

Vadnais admitted he used peer-to-peer software to download child porn, with police discovering over 300 images of child pornography on his desktop computer.

“Prosecuting offenders who receive and possess child pornography is one of the priorities of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington,” acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington Joseph H. Harrington said. “This office will continue to prosecute aggressively and seek appropriate punishment for child pornography crimes. I commend the excellent work of the FBI special agents who investigated this case.”

Police pursued the case as a part of Project Safe Childhood, which is a nationwide initiative that was launched in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.