Registered Sex Offender Sentenced To 40 Years In Prison For Producing Child Pornography

United States Attorney Gregory G. Brooker today announced the sentencing of DONALD THOMAS PERRIN, 58, a registered sex offender, to 40 years in prison for producing child pornography. PERRIN, who pleaded guilty on October 10, 2017, moments before his jury trial was set to begin, was sentenced yesterday before Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright in U.S. District Court in Saint Paul, Minn.

“Donald Perrin manipulated, exploited and humiliated a vulnerable young victim, and never once showed any remorse for his predatory actions,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Buzicky. “Unfortunately for the victims the damage can never be undone, but with today’s forty-year sentence this predator will no longer be able to harm vulnerable children.”

According to his guilty plea and documents filed in court, in the summer of 2014, PERRIN, a registered sex offender, began engaging in sexually explicit online chats with a fifteen-year-old minor. In the fall of 2014, PERRIN was arrested and jailed at Carver County Jail following a violation of his sex offender registration requirement. After he was released from Carver County Jail, PERRIN continued his online communications with the minor and made screen captures of their video chat sessions depicting sexually explicit activity. On February 12, 2016, PERRIN was again arrested and jailed as a result of his non-compliance with his sex offender registration requirements. Following his arrest, law enforcement executed search warrants at PERRIN’S home and recovered several digital devices containing thousands of child pornography files. PERRIN was scheduled to begin trial on October 10, 2017, before U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright in St. Paul, Minn.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, launched in May 2006, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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 to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.  In addition, if you know of any child who may have been a victim of exploitation, please contact the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children (NCMEC) at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or visit NCMEC’s web site at www.missingkids.com (link is external).

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI and the Carver County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant United States Attorneys Katherine T. Buzicky and Angela Munoz-Kaphing are prosecuting this case.