BOSTON - An Iowan man pretending to be a professional photographer was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Boston for engaging in sexually explicit conduct via webcam.
Joshua Dunfee, 32, of Oxford Junction, Iowa, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti B. Saris to 20 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release. In March 2014, Dunfee pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement of a child to engage in illicit sexual activity and production of child pornography.
Dunfee posed as a professional photographer from “Hunt Photography" who was seeking models online. He communicated with a Massachusetts mother and convinced her that he had a client willing to pay $20,000 for a mother-daughter bikini modeling contract. Over time, as part of his ruse, Dunfee directed the mother to “audition" her daughter via webcam for him to view, first in underwear and then naked. In November 2011, following the execution of a federal search warrant, a forensic examination of Dunfee’s seized computers recovered evidence of his exploitation of a second child in California.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, and Shelly Binkowski, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement today. The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Jones County (IA) Sheriff=s Office, the Massachusetts State Police, the Attleboro Police Department, and the Department of Justice’s High Technology Investigative Unit. Substantial assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney=s Office for the District of Iowa. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stacy Dawson Belf and David Tobin of Ortiz=s Major Crimes Unit and Trial Attorney Herbrina Sanders of the Department of Justice Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section.
This case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys= Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
