Franklin Lee Clark Gilmore
ATLANTA – Brandon Otoupal and Franklin Lee Clark Gilmore have been sentenced to federal prison, in separate court proceedings, for child pornography offenses. Otoupal both produced child pornography and posted a video on a website. Gilmore collected a library of child pornography files and shared them on the Internet in order to access more child pornography.
“These two men took perverse pleasure in the sexual abuse of children,” said U.S. Attorney John Horn. “Otoupal went a step further and bullied a teenage girl into producing child pornography for his own enjoyment. These two cases show that the Internet remains a thriving marketplace for the worst victimization of our children, as well as our commitment to doing everything we can to stop it.”
“Child pornography production is, bluntly, recording the sexual exploitation of innocent children, and those who encourage its production are directly responsible for promoting and encouraging child sex abuse,” said HSI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Nick S. Annan. “As this case shows, no matter where or how these criminals may seek out their illegal acts, ICE Homeland Security Investigations is committed to investigating and seeking prosecution of child exploitation cases as one the agency’s highest priorities.”
According to U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges and other information presented in court: In July 2015, special agents with Homeland Security Investigations received information that a person had posted on a foreign website a video of a young child being sexually abused by an adult. Based on further investigation, the agents determined that the file was uploaded to the website from a house in Carrollton. When special agents executed a federal search warrant on August 17, 2015, they found that Branden Otoupal not only possessed numerous images of child pornography, but he had also produced child pornography. Specifically, he used a cell phone app to coerce a teenage girl to produce child pornography of herself and send it to him for his own sexual enjoyment.
The charges and other information presented in court show that Franklin Lee Clark Gilmore had been downloading child pornography from the Internet beginning around June 2014. He collected files of very young girls being sexually abused on cell phones, tablets and computers. Eventually, to manage his collection, he transferred it to the cloud. He chatted with numerous men online where he gave them links to his collection, and they in turn gave him additional child pornography.
Brandon Otoupal, 27, of Carrollton, Georgia, was sentenced to 16 years in prison to be followed by 20 years of supervised release. Otoupal was convicted of these charges on April 11, 2017, after he pleaded guilty.
Franklin Lee Clark Gilmore, 26, of Cartersville, Georgia, was sentenced to 12 years, four months in prison to be followed by 15 years of supervised release. Gilmore was convicted of these charges on June 9, 2017, after he pleaded guilty. There is no parole in the federal system. Both Otoupal and Gilmore will be required to register as sex offenders upon their release from prison.
These two cases were investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul R. Jones prosecuted the cases.
This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.