A Maplewood man has been sentenced in federal court to 13 years in prison for distributing child pornography over the course of several years and for falsifying documents to illegally obtain a passport to leave the country after authorities executed a search warrant at his residence.
The US Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Erica H. MacDonald, announced the sentencing of Gary James Dokulil, 40, to 160 months in prison for distribution of child pornography and making false statements in an application for a passport.
Dokulil pleaded guilty on September 13, 2019 and was sentenced this week before Judge Joan N. Ericksen in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
According to the defendant’s guilty plea and documents filed in court, between December 2008 and November 2018, Dokulil admitted to using file-sharing software to search for, acquire, and distribute images and videos depicting child sexual abuse. Dokulil also admitted to traveling to the Philippines on multiple occasions and, while there in 2016, purchased several DVDs containing child pornography.
According to the defendant’s guilty plea and documents filed in court, in November 2018, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Dokulil’s residence and seized several items, including electronics, electronic media, various travel documents and Dokulil’s passport.
Law enforcement informed Dokulil that he could not report his passport lost or stolen in order to obtain a new one because the location of his passport (i.e., in the custody of the FBI) was known to Dokulil. Despite the warning, Dokulil submitted an application to the State Department for a replacement passport and, under penalty of perjury, falsely reported that his passport was “lost” or “missing.” After fraudulently obtaining a replacement passport, Dokulil traveled to the Philippines. On February 26, 2019, Dokulil was located and arrested in the Philippines and was later deported to the United States.
Unlike state-level sentencing in Minnesota which only requires offenders to serve two-thirds of their sentence incarcerated, those sentenced under federal guidelines can usually only earn a 15 percent reduction in their sentence through “good-time credit.”
US Attorney MacDonald said the case was the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI and the Maplewood Police Department.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
