News Releases and Statements

Robert Schmaltz, 36, from Bismarck, N.D., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to receiving materials involving minors being sexually exploited.

Richard Dinizo is accused of videotaping the sexual abuse of five minors, who were all under the age of 11 years-old when the alleged crimes occurred.

Aurelio J. Ariaz, 27, was sentenced to 97 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa. The sentence will be immediately followed by 15 years of supervised release, where he must comply with a number of special conditions designed to protect children and prohibit the use of the Internet.

Albert Silva Hernandez, Jr., 44, of Las Vegas, was found guilty of producing child pornography and exchanging sexually explicit text messages with a female minor. Hernandez previously served as a softball coach at Silverado High School and for a competitive club team.

James L. Scott was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for possessing child pornography as the result of an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Todd Fleming, 53, from McKinney, Texas, was indicted by a federal grand jury April 17 and charged with 24 counts of sexually exploiting a child, and one count of possessing child pornography.

Emil Moldovan, 40, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. that upon his release from prison, he must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

Solomon Blue Waters, 42, of London, England, pleaded guilty April 24 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward B. Atkins in the Eastern District of Kentucky to using the Internet to engage in sexual activity with a minor.

Billy Wayne Johnson pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to a superseding information charging one count of transporting child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. A forensic evaluation of Johnson's laptop and thumb drive that were seized revealed more than 1600 still images and 194 videos of child pornography.

James W. Vertullo, 51, of Pittsburgh, was indicted by a federal grand jury June 6, 2012 and arrested by HSI special agents June 13, 2012. He subsequently pleaded guilty to the charge in December 2012.

Christopher Dale Harrison, 32, from Port Neches, Texas, was arrested April 19 following a federal criminal complaint charging him with possessing, distributing, receiving, and producing child pornography. Â Harrison appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith F. Giblin April 22.

John David Baker used computers and interactive computer services to engage in online conversations with several minor children over the Internet. Baker served as a talent judge for a talent competition in Florida. In this role, Baker met minor children who were auditioning to work in the art and film industries.

Hector Vargas-Reyes was arrested at his residence by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents after an HSI investigation and the results of a PRPD search warrant revealed that he had allegedly used a mobile telephone to attempt to create images of a 16-year-old minor in sexually explicit poses in the bathroom of her home.

Three new member countries have joined the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT), an international alliance of law enforcement and private sector agencies dedicated to combating online child sexual abuse.

Luciano Mendez-Rojas was sentenced to 21 years in prison April 16 for sexually exploiting a child and distributing images and videos of child pornography over the Internet. In July 2011, Mendez-Rojas and his co-defendant, Inocencia Ortega, engaged in sexually explicit conduct in their home in The Bronx, while their minor child filmed videos...

Christopher Blackford, 28, of Charleston, S.C., pleaded guilty to participating in a child exploitation enterprise and faces 20 years to life in prison, a $250,000 fine, and five years of supervised release. William Davis, 39, of Bristol, N.H., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to advertise child pornography and faces 15 to 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release for his role in Dreamboard.

Brian Bernard Willin of Brownwood, Texas, admitted that he used a peer-to-peer file-sharing program that he had installed on his computer to download and view several images depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. He saved some of the material on his computer and onto a DVD.

Richard Castle has been extradited to the U.S. to faces charges of coercion of a minor and travelling with intent to engage in illicit sexual contact with a minor. The charges are related to a trip he allegedly made to Ohio from his home in order to have sexual relations with a juvenile in June 2011.

Jose Hernandez-Velazquez, a Los-Angeles-area man who owned rental property in Delano, Calif., was sentenced Monday to 60 years in federal prison. Between January 2010 and February 2011, Hernandez-Velazquez produced videos and images showing himself engaged in sexual acts with four minor victims aged 3 to 14.

A search warrant executed at Timothy Wayne Bailey's home resulted in the discovery of electronic storage devices that revealed images of child pornography, including images of Bailey's prior sexual abuse of a family member. The victim was interviewed and described more than four years of continuous sexual assault suffered at the hands of Bailey.

Laura Sigler was sentenced Monday to nearly 22 years in federal prison for producing child pornography with a 5-year-old child in November 2011 for rent money.

Carl Labadie, a Colorado resident who once lived in Santa Fe, N.M., was sentenced Thursday to four years in federal prison for his child pornography conviction.

Pablo Toro-Matos, of Yauco, was arrested by HSI special agents after they learned from the Puerto Rico Police Department's Sexual Crimes Division that Toro-Matos allegedly used his vehicle to transport an 11-year-old girl to a motel where he sexually assaulted her.

Patrick Mergen of Sewell, N.J., was sentenced to 25 years in prison for manufacturing child pornography and an additional 10 years on the possession of child pornography charge, both to run concurrently.

Booker T. Vanderhorst of Charleston, S.C., made his initial appearance in federal court Thursday after he was arrested by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents on child sex trafficking charges. Between July and October 2012, Vanderhorst prostituted a minor female he knew to be under the age of 18.