News Releases and Statements

Jose Alaniz-Allen, 23, of Mission, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez to serve 225 months in federal prison, taking into consideration various sentencing enhancements. The court noted the offense involved distributing images for the receipt, or expectation of receipt, of a thing of value, and that some minors depicted in the pornographic images were vulnerable victims under 5 years old.

A forensic review of former church puppeteer Ronald William Brown's electronic media showed that he possessed hundreds of images of child pornography and child erotica, including various images showing children being bound and tortured. In chats with various individuals, Brown discussed abducting, torturing and murdering children.

Carlos Manuel Santiago-Nieves was arrested after an HSI investigation, which stemmed from a Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) referral, revealed that he allegedly transported a 14-year-old female minor to two local motels in San Lorenzo and Caguas, among other places, to engage in sexually explicit conduct.

A Bakersfield-area sex offender, Cass Eugene Mitchell, was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison following his second conviction on federal child pornography charges, which stemmed from a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Stephen Keating, 53, was arrested in November 2012 after Danish police officials found images of an unknown suspect abusing two children on a computer they seized in a child pornography investigation.

Paul Anthony Rible, 39, from Plentywood, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and 10 years of supervised released. He will also forfeit the laptop computers and thumb drives he used to download, store and distribute child pornography.

Dustin E. James, of Republic, Mo., was charged in a two-count indictment alleging he used a minor to produce child pornography between July 1, 2012 and April 24, 2013. The indictment also alleges that James received and distributed child pornography over the Internet between Jan. 1, 2011 and April 24, 2013.

Wayne Harlan Files, of Lebanon, Mo., was charged in a one-count indictment that alleges Files received child pornography over the Internet. Files became a registered sex offender following his 1993 conviction for forcible sodomy.

Donnie Ray Sumner, of Joplin, Mo., was charged in a one-count indictment that alleges he received and distributed child pornography over the Internet between July 1, 2012 and Jan. 21, 2013. Sumner is a registered sex offender due to a 2001 conviction for possessing child pornography.

Jeremiah Paul Selman, 34, from Port Neches, Texas, pleaded guilty March 21 to possessing child pornography. He was sentenced July 23 to 78 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone. Selman was indicted by a federal grand jury Jan. 10 on child pornography charges.

Timothy Valdez, 37, appeared in federal court before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill.

Dylan Joral Ritter pleaded guilty Monday to production of child pornography, following a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and several other law enforcement agencies. Ritter admitted to downloading Internet child pornography, to sexually abusing a 3-year-old relative and to taking photos of the abuse with his cellphone camera.

Michael John Ebenhoeh pleaded guilty in April following an investigation by the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Investigators determined that between November 2010 and July 2011, multiple digital files of child pornography involving very young children were downloaded and offered for sharing from Ebenhoeh's residence.

Jeremy Blackburn, 33, was sentenced July 18 by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle to 188 months in federal prison. Blackburn has been in custody since he pleaded guilty plea in March.

A former Texas elementary school principal, Stephen Anthony Paulsen, used an online social networking application to contact and attempt to meet an individual he believed was a 15-year-old boy for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity. The individual he contacted was actually an undercover law enforcement officer, posing as a minor.

Anthony Maurice Cottle, a former Baltimore County firefighter, was sentenced Thursday to 195 months in prison for sexual exploitation of a minor to produce child pornography and possession of child pornography. Cottle sexually abused two minor males to produce visual depictions of the abuse.

Gary Hardeman, a previously convicted sex offender, faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty Thursday to a charge resulting from a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) that revealed he traveled to Mexico to engage in sexual acts with a 13-year-old girl.

Michael Dale Irwin pleaded guilty Tuesday to the sexual exploitation of a minor to produce child pornography. A witness reported to Maryland State Police that Irwin had sent an image to her cellular phone documenting his sexual abuse of a prepubescent minor female.

Lisa Renze of Connellsville, Pa., was arrested and charged Monday with employing, using, persuading, inducing, enticing, and coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct.

Jeffrey Todd Howard, 34, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey. Howard will also be required to serve 10 years of supervised release following completion of the prison term, during which time he will be required to comply with numerous conditions of release designed to limit his contact with children. Howard was convicted after a two-day bench trial before Judge Rainey April 4.

James Carney Ritterhoff, a former police officer who was employed as an armed money courier in Albuquerque when he was arrested in June 2011, was sentenced Monday to 7 1/2 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

Michael Brian Clair, 33, admitted that between July 2012 and January 2013, he coerced two prepubescent minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct, for the purpose of producing visual depictions of that conduct, and transported those images from Arizona to Idaho in late December.

Twenty-four of the 61 victims identified during the Operation iGuardian were engaging online with strangers who sexually exploited them.

Douglas Teeter, 37, will also serve 15 years of supervised release following the completion of his federal prison sentence.

Robert Arthur Brewster, 41, of Clifton, Colo., pleaded guilty July 10 before U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson to producing child pornography. Brewster appeared at the change of plea hearing in custody.