Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings, on March 20, 2008, before Chief U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, DANIEL MICHAEL SCHAFF, a 51-year-old resident of Billings, appeared for sentencing. SCHAFF was sentenced to a term of:

• Prison: 240 months

• Forfeiture: computer equipment

• Supervised Release: 10 years

SCHAFF was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to sexual exploitation of children and receipt of child pornography.

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

At various times in 2006, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received referrals regarding SCHAFF, alleging that he had made sexual advances to a child while on the Internet and that he had posted child pornography images on the Internet.

On March 29, 2007, law enforcement officers contacted SCHAFF at his residence in Billings to speak with him about the allegations. SCHAFF admitted that he had chatted with a minor female from Oregon and that he had encouraged her to send web cam images of herself in sexually explicit conduct across state lines via the Internet which she did. SCHAFF admitted that he sent the same type of images to her. SCHAFF was contacted by the girl's father and told to have no further contact with her. When she turned 18, SCHAFF traveled to Oregon to pick her up and brought her back to Billings to live with him for a period of time.

SCHAFF also admitted that he had used a credit card to purchase access to child pornography websites and reported that he had a "problem" with that activity and that images of that child pornography he had received via the Internet would be on his computer. SCHAFF'S computer and related items were seized and sent to the computer lab for forensic analysis.

The images found on the computer included children clearly under the age of twelve, including infants and toddlers, children engaged in sadistic or violent sexual activity, and numerous images of known victims.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that SCHAFF will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, SCHAFF does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.

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, the Billings Police Department, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Department of Justice launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.