News Releases and Statements

Simon William Riley, 21, of Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom, was sentenced on one count of sexually exploiting a minor, two counts of advertising material involving the sexual exploitation of minors, and one count of receiving child pornography.

Patrick Lee Jewell, 34, admitted to communicating with an individual on Craigslist via email regarding the exchange of child pornography images in November and December 2013. According to court documents, HSI special agents executed search warrants at Jewell’s residence in February 2014.

Gregory L. Bridges, 38, was residing in Seattle and working as a senior program manager for Amazon.com when he first came to the attention of special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) who suspected him of possessing thousands of images depicting child sexual abuse.

Jesus Paramo, 47, from Mesquite, Texas, has been on bond since his arrest in August 2014. U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater remanded him into custody following the sentencing hearing.

Casey Gibson, 23, admitted to receiving and viewing images of child pornography in his email account. Gibson’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 14 before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill.

Rickie Friar, 67, of Millington, was also sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release after his term of imprisonment by U.S. District Judge John T. Fowlkes Jr. Friar previously pleaded guilty to the criminal charges in May.

Douglas A. Willis, 53, of Naperville, Illinois, is charged with one count of conspiring to produce child pornography, and one count of producing child pornography. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday during an arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary M. Rowland in Chicago.

Michael Ray Robertson, 64, pleaded guilty to distribution of child pornography March 24. The case was the product of “Operation Sunflower,” a nationwide investigation targeting purveyors of child pornography that began in 2012. The name is based on a case in which a sunflower-shaped highway road sign identified in online images led to the rescue of an 11-year-old girl in Kansas.

Daniel Tyler Morgan, 30, of Jupiter, is charged with using the Internet to persuade, induce or entice a child to engage in prohibited sexual activity.

Erik Rodriguez, 25, admitted to possessing and producing child pornography at his residence in Rupert, Idaho. Rodriguez’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 8 before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill.

William Allen Patterson, 34, from Alamogordo, New Mexico, was arrested Aug. 10 on a criminal complaint alleging that he possessed and received visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit activity from 2002 to 2012, and Aug. 10 in Otero County, New Mexico.

A Fort Worth man was sentenced Tuesday by Senior U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means to five years in federal prison for possessing child pornography.

Leon Lussier is a substitute teacher formerly employed by the Bowling Green School system.  He was sentenced Aug. 19 to 10 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Greg N. Stivers for possessing and distributing child pornography.

Jerry Boucher, 43, of Avon, Indiana, had his initial appearance before a magistrate judge Aug. 18 and remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Troy A. Paul, 48, admitted viewing images of child pornography on a Russian photo sharing website several times between January and June 2014. Paul further admitted viewing child pornography emailed to him approximately 100 times using the iPhone assigned by his employer.

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.

Michael Van Culin, 32, of Monroeville, New Jersey, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison, including 8 ½ years of parole ineligibility by Superior Court Judge Benjamin C. Telsey in Salem County. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 29 to a first-degree charge of manufacturing child pornography. 

David Stephens, 51, was first identified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in February 2015 for sharing images of child rape and abuse over a peer-to-peer file sharing network. HSI agents executed a court-authorized search warrant on Stephens’ home the following month, seizing electronic devices with thousands of pornographic images, including self-produced photos of his molestation of a young child.

Joshua Paul Crouch, 28, pleaded guilty Aug. 10 to attempting to transfer obscene material to a minor. As a result of the guilty plea before U.S. District Judge John F. Walter, Crouch faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison when he is sentenced Oct. 24.

John Anthony Perez, 37, of Aransas Pass, Texas, was sentenced by Senior US. District Judge Hayden Head to 250 months in federal prison on each of three counts, which are to run consecutively. The 750-month total sentence will also be followed by 20 years of supervised release during which time he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the Internet.

Reynaldo Ramirez, 38, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos to 235 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by 20 years of supervised release; he must also and register as a sex offender. Ramirez pleaded guilty to the charges in May.