A former Hancock County deputy will spend up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to the production of child pornography.
According to court documents, Derrick Patrick Flanagan, 38, was first identified in February 2022 in an investigation brought to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office and the FBI by the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office after authorities received two tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
One of the reports used the name “John Adams” with a Gmail address while the other was under the name of “Derrick Flanagan,” also with a Gmail address. These CyberTips were ultimately found to be related to the then-Hancock County deputy.
Forensic examinations of a laptop and cell phone recovered during the investigation found multiple visual depictions of child sexual abuse material. In addition, the investigation recovered over 40,000 lines of chats sent via SnapChat that corresponded to multiple visual depictions.
Flanagan is set to be sentenced on August 15.
