DENVER - James Boblett, age 34, of Grand Junction, Colorado, was sentenced last week by U.S. District Court Judge Raymond P. Moore to serve 204 months (17 years) in federal prison for the distribution of child pornography, U.S. Attorney John Walsh and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Denver Special Agent in Charge Kumar Kibble announced. Following his 17 year prison sentence, Judge Moore ordered Boblett to serve 10 years on supervised release. The defendant appeared at the sentencing hearing in custody, and was remanded at its conclusion.
Boblett was charged by Information on Oct. 2, 2013. He pled guilty before Judge Moore on Dec. 19, 2013. He was sentenced on March 13, 2014.
According to the stipulated facts contained in the defendant’s plea agreement, on July 8, 2011, a police officer with the Kenton County (Kentucky) Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force accessed the Internet using the undercover persona of a divorced mother with minor daughters. Between July 2011 and February 2012 James Boblett engaged the undercover officer in multiple Internet chats. The defendant distributed more than 50 images and 20 videos depicting child pornography to the undercover officer, including a video of child pornography depicting a 3-year-old child. In addition to distributing child pornography during the communications, Boblett showed himself on a webcam chatting and masturbating.
During the chats Boblett sent the undercover officer a sexually explicit image of a 13-year-old minor child, who authorities were later able to identify. Investigators determined that Boblett had been chatting with the minor child over the course of approximately one year, encouraging her to take sexually exploitive pictures of herself and send them to him. Boblett also sent the minor child images of child pornography and images and videos of his penis. At the change of plea hearing, Boblett admitted to distributing child pornography.
“The defendant distributed child pornography to countless others which is reason enough for this lengthy sentence," said U.S. Attorney John Walsh. “As a result of the defendant’s conduct, the innocent children portrayed in those images were systematically victimized."
“This significant federal prison sentence removes from the streets another child sexual predator for a long time," said Kumar C. Kibble, special agent in charge of HSI Denver. “HSI routinely works with other law enforcement agencies to identify, locate and pursue prosecution against predators like Boblett who target the most vulnerable members of our society - our children."
The investigation was conducted by Kenton County, Kentucky Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Boblett is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alecia Riewerts Wolak and Michelle Heldmyer.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 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, PSC 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 PSC, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ For more information about Internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/resources.html and click on the tab "resources."
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
