Two Louisiana men arrested for child pornography

(BATON ROUGE, LA) — Joint law enforcement efforts led by Attorney General Buddy Caldwell's Cyber Crime Unit (CCU) have resulted in the arrest of two Louisiana men this week on child pornography charges.

CCU investigators yesterday arrested 25-year-old Michael B. Cocke, of 350 Flattown Rd. in Charenton, on four counts of possessing and six counts of distributing pornography involving juveniles. The arrest comes as a result of a joint investigation involving the Attorney General’s CCU, St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office, Chitimacha Tribal Police and Louisiana State Police. Agents executed a search warrant at Cocke’s residence, where they found numerous videos depicting the sexual abuse and rape of a toddler. Louisiana State Police separately charged Cocke with the three additional counts of distributing pornography involving juveniles in reference to a separate investigation. Cocke was booked into the St. Mary Parish Prison.

In an unrelated case, 31-year-old Michael D. Forsyth, of 717 Edgelake Road in Slidell, was also arrested Tuesday as a result of a joint investigation involving the Attorney General’s CCU, Louisiana State Police, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations. An undercover investigation into the downloading and distribution of child pornography led agents to execute a search warrant at Forsyth’s residence, where they found numerous pornographic images and videos of children under the age of 13. Forsyth was booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail on 20 counts of possessing pornography involving juveniles.

Both Cocke and Forsyth are charged with violating a state law forbidding a person to produce, distribute, possess, or possess with the intent to distribute pornography involving juveniles. If convicted as charged, the men face up to 20 years in prison on each count of child pornography.

Attorney General Caldwell said, “It used to be that protecting our children meant locking the doors and windows, having a good watchdog and a pistol in the nightstand. Today, criminal predators sneak into our children’s bedrooms past locked doors and windows, watch dogs and pistols and, undetected through the internet, prey on our children. We now must use new and modern methods to stop these criminals. That is why our Cyber Crime Unit employs the latest technologies to provide new safeguards for our children.”

Caldwell concluded, “Our children are messages we send forward to a time we may never see. We must make their journey a safe one.”

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Michael Cocke