FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sept. 26, 2016
COVINGTON—Christopher Cote, 33, of Covington, pleaded guilty Thursday (Sept. 22) to 79 counts of child pornography, which was discovered during an undercover investigation last year. District Judge Peter J. Garcia sentenced Cote to 18 years in prison without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.
The case began with an investigation by the multi-agency Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in which an undercover officer identified Cote online as a potential child predator and engaged in chat room conversations with him about a year. Task force agents, representing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and Louisiana Attorney General’s Office (now the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation), then went to the defendant’s residence in April 2015. When Cote consented to allow the agents to look at his computer, they found a suspicious file and seized the laptop for further forensic examination. During the analysis, agents discovered 79 pornographic images of children, ranging in ages from toddler to 7 years old.
Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Authement prosecuted the case.