ALBUQUERQUE - William Edward Jenne, 23, of Las Cruces, N.M., pleaded guilty this morning in Las Cruces federal court to possession of a visual depiction of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Jenne was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents on Dec. 4, 2012, on a criminal complaint alleging federal child pornography charges. According to court filings, the investigation leading to Jenne’s arrest was initiated in mid-Nov. 2012, when an officer of the Las Cruces Police Department (LCPD) who was working online in an undercover capacity connected with an IP Address that was sharing files that appeared to contain child pornography. After determining that the IP Address was subscribed to Jenne, HSI and LCPD executed a search warrant at Jenne’s residence and seized computers and computer-related media. During an interview, Jenne admitted that the computers and computer-related media contained child pornography.
During today’s hearing, Jenne pleaded guilty to a felony information charging him with possession of child pornography in Dona Ana County, N.M. Jenne admitted that from Aug. 2012 to Dec. 2012, he knowingly possessed child pornography.
Jenne was remanded into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service after entering his guilty plea and will remain detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled. At sentencing, Jenne faces a maximum ten years in federal prison followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court. Jenne also will be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence.
This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of HSI and the LCPD and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa A. Lizarraga of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office. The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.
The case also was brought as a part of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico. There are 64 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office. Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
