A South African man pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Portland to sexually exploiting a minor and transporting child pornography.

Authorities said that Denver Carolissen, 42, of Kuilsrivier, South Africa, took sexually explicit photos of a minor girl in 2010 and in 2014, sent those pictures and other child pornography to undercover agents in Maine who were investigating the online transmission of child pornography.

In November 2014, Carolissen was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. South African authorities were asked to arrest him and extradite him to the U.S.

Carolissen entered his guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Maine.

He faces a sentence of between 15 and 30 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a minor and between five and 20 years for transporting child pornography, along with a fine of up to $250,000 and the possiblity of life on supervised release for each offense.

He will be sentenced later.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses Unit of the South African Police Service.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.