PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- A man from Sneads is being charged with manufacturing child pornography.
The suspect, 28-year-old Donyel James Fitts, was indicted before a federal grand jury on four counts. Counts one and two of the indictment accuse Fitts of making a child perform sexual acts while taking pictures of the explicit conduct. This happened June 20-21, 2012. The second two counts accuse Fitts of videotaping a child engaged in sexually explicit conduct. These incidents happened just a few months later on October 16 and October 19.
For each count, if convicted, Fitts faces a mandatory sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison, a life term on supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to 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.
An indictment is merely a formal charge by the grand jury. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
Sneads is in Jackson County, which is just east of Gadsden County.
