Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on June 12, 2013, Jean Paul Jimenez-Kuchler, 29, a citizen of Panama, living illegally in the United States in Glen Carbon, IL, was arraigned on a three-count Information charging him, in Count 1, with Receipt of Visual Depictions of Minors Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct, in Count 2, with Possession of Visual Depictions of Minors Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct, and, in Count 3, Possession of a Counterfeit Alien Registration Card. Jimenez-Kuchler was ordered detained, that is, held without bail, pending further proceedings.
The offenses charged in the Information allege that on June 5, 2013, Jimenez-Kuchler received visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct by downloading the images from the internet, and that he was in possession of the visual depictions on June 6, 2013, when he was arrested on the above offenses. In addition, the information alleges that Jimenez-Kuchler was in possession of a counterfeit Alien Registration Card on the date of his arrest.
A trial date had not been set. If convicted of Receipt of Visual Depictions of Minors Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct, Jimenez-Kuchler faces a term of imprisonment of not less than five years, but not more than 20 years in prison, a fine up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not less than five years, to life. If convicted of Possession of Visual Depictions of Minors Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct, the penalties include an enhanced term of imprisonment because some of the visual depictions depicted minors under the age of 12, within a term of ii prison of not more than 20 years, a fine up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not less than five years, to life. If convicted of Possession of a Counterfeit Alien Registration Card, Jimenez-Kuchler faces a prison term of not more than 10 years, a fine up to $250,000, or both, and a term of supervised release of not more than three years.
An information is merely the method by which federal charges are lodged. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources."
The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations. The case is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Angela Scott.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
