Montana man sentenced to 15 years in sexual exploitation case

MISSOULA, Mont. – A Montana man who used his Facebook account and mobile phone to seek a sexually explicit image of a minor girl was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme, District of Montana, announced the sentence. This case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Todd Louis Pajnich, 30, pleaded guilty in December to sexual exploitation of a child.

The prosecution said that beginning in January 2019, Pajnich started communicating on Facebook with a 10-year-old girl. In April, Facebook reported potential online sexual exploitation involving the girl’s and Pajnich’s accounts. A law enforcement investigation found records in which Pajnich asked the girl her age and that she told him she was 13. Pajnich then asked the girl to send him a sexually explicit image of herself, which she did. And Pajnich sent the victim a sexually explicit image of a male, purportedly of himself. Pajnich admitted to law enforcement that he knew the victim was a child and that he solicited a sexually explicit image of her.

This case was initiated under the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative, which was launched in 2006 to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. Through a network of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and advocacy organizations, Project Safe Childhood attempts to protect children by investigating and prosecuting offenders involved in child sexual exploitation. It is implemented through partnerships including the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

The ICAC Task Force Program was created to assist state and local law enforcement agencies by enhancing their investigative response to technology facilitated crimes against children.

U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided and Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee Peterson prosecuted the case.