Urbana, Ill. - A Michigan man has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for offenses under Project Safe Childhood, as announced by Rodger A. Heaton, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois. Danny W. Orr, 58, of Port Huron, Michigan, was sentenced on Friday, May 16, 2008, by Chief U.S. District Judge Michael P. McCuskey. Upon release from prison, Judge McCuskey ordered Orr be placed on supervised release with conditions for life.

A jury convicted Orr on January 31, 2008, of attempting to entice a minor to travel across state lines to engage in sexual conduct and using interstate communications to attempt to entice a minor to engage in sexual conduct. Evidence presented by the government showed Orr used the Internet and telephone to communicate with a woman he believed to be a 34-year-old Decatur, Illinois woman with two girls, ages three and five years old. Orr attempted to persuade the woman and her children to travel to Michigan for the purpose of his engaging in sexual relations with the woman and with the two young girls. In fact, Orr was communicating with an undercover Decatur Police task force officer posing as the woman with two minor children whom Orr had met in a chat room.

Orr was arrested on September 12, 2006, in Michigan, and was ordered detained by the U.S. Marshals Service.

The charges against Orr were the result of an investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Decatur Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Bass.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about this initiative, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.