A former Hancock County deputy has been sentenced to serve 30 years in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for producing child pornography.
U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that 38-year-old Derrick Patrick Flanagan was issued the sentence in U.S. District Court in Gulfport on Thursday.
According to court documents, Flanagan was identified in February 2022 in an investigation brought to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office Cyber Crime Division and the FBI by the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.
Law enforcement received two CyberTip Reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which were ultimately found to be related to Flanagan, who was assigned to work at the Diamondhead Police Department and resided in Gulfport at the time.
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.
Forensic examinations of a laptop and cellular telephones recovered during the investigation found multiple visual depictions of child sexual abuse material, as well as over 40,000 lines of chats sent over social media that corresponded to multiple visual depictions.
Flanagan pled guilty on April 20 to the production of child pornography.
In addition to his term of imprisonment, Flanagan has been ordered to pay a $5,000 fine under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 and a $10,000 assessment under the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2018.
The FBI and the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, Cyber Crime Division, investigated the case.
