Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Porn Charges in Sacramento (18 United States Code 2252)

A 63-year-old man (name withheld to protect the accused’s privacy) from Grizzly Flat (El Dorado County) has recently pled guilty in a federal court in Sacramento to receipt and possession of pornographic images of children.  Prosecutors allege that the man took a woman to Davis park in July of 2013 and had her expose herself to several young boys there, aged 10 and 12 years, while he recorded the incidents on a camera that was hidden in his otherwise normal-looking glasses.  While the woman was aware of what was transpiring, the boys were not.  After an extensive investigation of the man’s home, his cellular phone and computer were searched and police allegedly found approximately 600 different sexual images involving minors.

California law is quite strict when it comes to child pornography charges; this is even truer of federal law.  18 United States Code 2252 (“Certain activities relating to material involving the sexual exploitation of minors”) deals specifically with the distribution and receipt of child pornography.  These images are, of course, an exception to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and are not, therefore, protected by law in this country.   In order to be considered a violation of federal, and not state, law, images involving sexual depictions of minors must be ‘transported’ via ‘interstate or foreign commerce.’  Another way to put this is that the images must have been sent, usually electronically, from another state or country.  Penalties for violation of this law include a 5-20-year sentence in federal prison, depending on the unique circumstances of each case, and hefty fines.  In some cases, prison terms can be as high as 15-40 years.