News Releases and Statements

Paul Morris, 40, of Dayton, Kentucky, was sentenced Aug. 3 by U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar to 20 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography, to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. 

In pleading guilty, Stephen Roy Walker, 43, admitted he transported 462 digital images and 42 digital videos containing child pornography from Texas to Idaho, and that he possessed the images while living in Idaho. Walker further admitted that 78 of the images containing child pornography, and four of the videos, depicted one of three children living with him at the Old Towne Lodge.

Michael Lindsay, 56, was convicted by a federal jury after a four-day trial. The jury found that Lindsay traveled from San Francisco to the Philippines intending to have sex with a 13-year-old girl. He used instant messaging to communicate with the girl’s mother and arrange meetings with the minor. 

Chad Calhoun, 33, of Longview, Texas, was convicted by a federal jury Dec. 10, 2015, for receiving and possessing child pornography.  He was sentenced to 135 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Michael H. Schneider Aug. 3.  Upon his release from custody, Calhoun must also serve a term of supervised release of 10 years and will be required to register as a sex offender.

Javier Carlos Arteta Franco, 58, residing in Fort Stockton, faces between five and 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to receiving and possessing child pornography. By pleading guilty, he admitted that from December 2014 to August 2015, he used a file-sharing program to download to his personal computer videos and images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

According to court records, in July 2014, Donnie Ray Schultz, 45, of Del City, Oklahoma, began engaging in sex acts with the then 14-year-old girl, whom he met through a religion class he taught at a Del City church. According to those records, the sex acts occurred between July 2014 and November 2015.

Timothy J. Martin, 32, from Taos, New Mexico, was released to a halfway house pending trial and will be under pretrial supervision and other conditions of release.

Oscar Figueroa, 47, of Carrollton, Texas, was convicted by a federal jury April 1 for attempting to coerce and entice minors. He was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison Aug. 1 by U.S. District Judge Amos L Mazzant.  Figueroa was also ordered to pay fines and assessments totaling $17,600.  Upon his release from custody, Figueroa will also serve 10 years of supervised release and he will be required to register as a sex offender.

Jeffrey Parkhurst, 59, of Springfield, was sentenced Aug. 1 by U.S. District Judge Colin S. Bruce, Central District of Illinois, to 132 months in federal prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release. Parkhurst was convicted by a federal jury March 31.

Ronald Gerard Boyajian, 55, who previously resided in Menlo Park and has spent time on the Palos Verdes peninsula, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder. The case is the result of a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Los Angeles and HSI's Attaché Offices in Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh, with the assistance of the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh.

Shawn Shannon, 44, a traveling gospel singer from Muncie, Indiana, was convicted July 27 after a three-day trial of 19 counts of sexually exploiting a minor and one count of distributing child pornography.

Russell Dean Millsaps, 69, was sentenced July 1 by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph P. Mikitish on multiple counts of child molestation, crimes against children, and sexual exploitation of a minor. The case against Millsaps was prosecuted by Rebecca Jones of the Superior Court of Arizona, Maricopa County.

In pleading guilty, Lawrence Ham, 52, admitted that between June 26, 2015, and July 14, 2015, he possessed sexually explicit images of children on his computer and in print. Ham further admitted the images included depictions of prepubescent children engaged in conduct involving sadistic or masochistic abuse of the victims.

Jonathan Brent Wulf, 62, of Seattle, was arrested in September 2015 when he arrived at a meeting place for a sexual encounter with what turned out to be an undercover ICE HSI agent. At Friday’s sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones noted Wulf’s career as a clinical psychologist saying “You’ve been able to see the kind of damage this activity can cause.

Angelo Harper Jr., 21, was found guilty of advertising child pornography, a crime that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison. Harper was found guilty by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner, who presided over a two-day bench trial.

Christian Lancaster, 46, of Alameda, is charged in an indictment with knowingly possessing one or more images of prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Up until January, Lancaster was a teacher with the San Francisco Unified School District.

Richard Wayne Barton, 51, of Dickinson was sentenced July 21 to 235 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay restitution to known victims. He was further ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release following completion of his prison term, during which time he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the Internet. He will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.

Michael Quinn, 33, of Melbourne, appeared Wednesday before U.S. District Judge John F. Walter, who scheduled a sentencing hearing for the defendant Oct. 3

Kelly James Morrow, 49, who has a U.S. residence in Surprise, Arizona, but been living in China prior to his arrest last June, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge S. James Otero. The case resulted from a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which provided the initial lead that led to the investigation.

Gregory Witte, 55, was charged in a four count grand jury indictment on July 7, 2015, and pleaded guilty to two of the counts on March 29, 2016.  The United States agreed to dismiss the remaining two counts during sentencing.

Carter’s “conduct in this case spanned a decade as he prostituted the seven minor victims from 2003 to 2013” and transported them from California to Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Washington DC and Nevada, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court.

Phillip Carnevale, 56, was convicted in state court of 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in an investigation lead by HSI that began three years ago. After receiving a tip in August 2013, HSI special agents determined the defendant had emailed more than 70 images of child sexual abuse to numerous individuals.

Anthony Rutten, 26, of Joliet, Illinois, was charged July 14 in Will County Circuit Court with two counts of possessing child pornography, a class 2 felony punishable by up to seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Robert William Beattie, 56, of Grand Forks, North Dakota, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Erickson to serve 12 years in federal prison, and to 10 years of supervised release. Judge Erickson also sentenced Beattie to pay a $200 special assessment to the Crime Victims' Fund, plus an additional $5,000 special assessment under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.

The FDLE began an investigation into Donald Daniel Robinson, 30, of Tampa after receiving tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. On July 8, 2015, agents from FDLE and ICE HSI executed a search warrant at Robinson's home where multiple images of child pornography, including images of local children, were found.