South Florida ICE Chief Indicted on Child Pornography Charges
Right Side News ^ | 9/29/2011 | Erick Hamme
Mugshot of ICE director for Miami, Fla., Anthony Mangione, charged with the transportation, receipt, and possession of child pornography.
(CNSNews.com) - The chief of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in south Florida has been indicted on charges of transportation, receipt, and possession of child pornography.
Following a nearly six-month investigation, federal investigators searched 50-year-old Anthony Mangione’s home in April and found “one or more” images of “a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.”
Mangione has served 27 years in law enforcement and has headed up ICE’s regional office since July 2007.
He entered a not guilty plea on Wednesday, and at the request of the both the defense and prosecution, the judge ordered that he be sent to Miami for a psychological evaluation.
The indictment states that Mangione knowingly transported “by any means, including by computer, one or more visual depictions, where the production of such visual depictions involved the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct and the visual depictions are of such conduct.”
The transportation and receipt charges carry minimum sentences of 5 years. The possession charge carries a maximum of 10 years and if convicted on all charges, a maximum of 50 years in prison.
According to the press release announcing the indictment, Mangione also faces a “term of supervised release of five years to life following his prison sentence, and will be required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction in which he lives, works, or attends school.”
In a 2008 press release after ICE put a man behind bars for 10 years for using the Internet to lure in a minor for sexual activities, Mangione was quoted as saying, “This case reveals the disturbing truth that child predators will go to great lengths to sexually exploit minors ... ICE is committed to identifying and arresting these individuals who seek to victimize children and help ensure that justice is served.”
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