Man Gets 30 Years for Snake-Related Child Porn

GULFPORT, Miss. - A federal judge in Mississippi has sentenced a man to 30 years in prison on charges of coercing an underage girl to pose for child pornography with poisonous snakes.

John Joseph Maillet pleaded guilty in September to one count of production of child pornography. He was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden.

Ozerden denied Maillet's motion to dismiss the indictment. Maillet had claimed the photographs seized by the government showed no "sexually explicit conduct" between him and the girl.

Maillet, of Port Jervis, N.Y., was living in Carriere, Miss., where the alleged crime took place. He was arrested in August.

Prosecutors say the girl was 15 when Maillet first enticed her to pose for pictures in April 2007 and was 16 when he had sex with her.

FBI spokeswoman Deborah Madden has said there were 41 venomous snakes in Maillet's home when agents executed a search warrant in 2009. When they returned Aug. 10 of this year, shortly after Maillet's arrest, there were only 12 snakes remaining. Agents called in an expert who removed the remaining snakes from the property.

It's not clear what happened to the other snakes.