Colorado man sentenced to 21 ½ years in federal prison for producing child pornography by sexually assaulting a 4-week-old infant

DENVER — A Denver man was sentenced Monday to 21 ½ years in federal prison for producing child pornography.

This sentence was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer, District of Colorado, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge David A. Thompson.

Jamie Sailas, 31, of Metro Denver, who is in custody, was remanded at the conclusion of the sentencing hearing. In addition to the 258 months in federal prison, U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martinez also sentenced Sailas to also serve 30 years of supervised release.

According to the stipulated facts contained in the defendant’s plea agreement, Sailas came to law enforcement attention when an HSI special agent working in Washington, DC, conducted a proactive undercover investigation upon an internet website that hosted chatrooms. Chatroom users can upload pictures and video to the chatroom. While conducting this investigation, the HSI special agent came across a link to a video that depicted an adult male having sex with an underage girl. The investigation led the special agent to specific subscriber information which had been submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) by the Internet Service Provider. The link was associated with an online storage account that belonged to Jamie Sailas, who at the time resided in Brighton, Colorado. There were nearly 2,900 uploaded file names associated with Sailas’s online storage account, consistent with file names of videos containing child pornography. An email account associated with the online storage account was also determined to belong to Sailas.

During the investigation, the local HSI special agent learned that two additional NCMEC reports had been generated regarding Sailas, one which involved the email address associated with the online storage account. A legal search of his email account showed that Sailas used the account to send or receive about 5,500 images and 240 videos of child pornography. This material included minors as young as infants, with a large majority of content depicting prepubescent minor females. It was ultimately determined that Sailas also worked at Game Trader in Brighton. Search warrants were executed in November 2014 for Sailas’s home, workplace and vehicle. Numerous electronic devices belonging to Sailas were recovered during the execution of the search warrants. During the forensic examination of the electronic devices recovered during the search warrants, numerous images and videos depicting child pornography were recovered, including an image of child pornography that was recovered from one of Sailas’s cellphones. The image of child pornography depicted his penis in the mouth of an infant about 4 weeks old. Sailas photographed this image. Sailas had access to the infant because he was a friend of the child’s mother.

“This defendant’s crimes were as heinous as they get,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer, District of Colorado. “This substantial sentence in federal prison is just and proper.”

Jamie Sailas was investigated by HSI with assistance from the Brighton Police Department. He was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alecia Riewerts, District of Colorado.

This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 14,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2015, nearly 2,400 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.