GARY DOERR PLEADS GUILTY IN U.S. FEDERAL COURT

Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Missoula on January 8, 2007, before Chief U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, GARY DOERR, a 49-year-old resident of Helena, pled guilty to possession of child pornography. Sentencing is set for April 13, 2007. He is currently released on special conditions.

In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:

On October 3, 2005, the Helena Crimestoppers Office received a phone call from a caller alleging that DOERR had a computer disk that had child pornography on it at his residence in Helena. Two law enforcement officers went to DOERR'S residence to speak with him about the allegations.

DOERR gave verbal and written consent for the officers to search his computer, which they did. No child pornography was found on the computer. The officers asked DOERR about any disks that he had that might contain child pornography and he retrieved a Zipdisk titled "Private Collection." DOERR advised that he had received the child pornography on the disk via the Internet some years ago while residing in Idaho. The agents viewed the images on the disk and found child pornography. DOERR detailed for the agents how he came to be in possession of the child pornography and gave a hand-written confession.

The computer disk in question was forensically searched and items of mostly male child pornography were located. The images included children clearly under the age of 12, and included images of sadistic or masochistic abuse or images of violence. The images included pictures of infants and toddlers being penetrated, and also included a number of images of previously identified victims.

DOERR faces possible penalties of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervision.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcia K. Hurd prosecuted the case for the United States.

The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Helena Police Department.

A copy of the Offer of Proof can be obtained by contacting Sally Frank at (406) 247-4638.

United States Attorney's Office for the District of Montana
P.O. Box 1478
Billings, MT 59103

CONTACT
Kurt Alme
First Assistant U.S. Attorney
(406) 246-4669