United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that Gary Landon Harper, Jr., 33, of Bastrop, Louisiana, has been sentenced by United States District Judge Terry A. Doughty to 300 months (25 years) in prison, for production of child pornography.
This case was the result of an investigation by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office into allegations that Harper was misusing the internet social media application Snapchat to contact minor females in the Monroe area. Their investigation revealed that between January 1, 2021, and October 29, 2021, Harper utilized Snapchat to communicate with numerous females between the ages of 13 and 16 who attended Monroe-area middle and high schools. Harper would pay some of these females for their Snapchat login information which he would use to impersonate them and direct other females in their contact lists to “friend” accounts that he controlled, under the guise of making money from a “sugar daddy.”
Harper would further the scheme by paying females to send him sexually explicit videos and images, and to meet up with him for sex. The specific instance related to the charge in the indictment occurred between January and September 2021 when Harper enticed a 16- year-old female victim to meet him and have sex in exchange for $150. When they met, Harper filmed the pair having sex inside his pickup truck. He did this knowing she was a minor at the time. Investigators recovered that video recording from Harper’s cell phone pursuant to a search warrant and positively identified the female victim. Through their investigation, agents learned that Harper victimized over 25 minor females in his heinous schemes. Harper pleaded guilty to the one count of production of child pornography in this case on April 5, 2023.
The case was investigated by the FBI and Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mike Shannon.