Defendant accused of taking a picture of the sexual abuse of an infant
DENVER - Jamie Sailas, age 29, of Brighton, Colorado, was arrested this morning without incident by federal agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S Attorney’s Office and HSI announced. The defendant was arrested based on a Criminal Complaint charging one count of production of child pornography, one count of transportation of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography. Sailas appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge where he was advised of his rights, and the charges pending against him. He is being held in custody pending a detention and preliminary hearing, scheduled for March 17, 2015 at 10:00 a.m.
According to an HSI special agent’s affidavit, in October of 2013 an HSI agent in Washington, DC was conducting proactive undercover investigative activity on the internet. During his investigative work, he encountered a link to a video of a minor child with black marker on her torso with obscene words and an arrow pointing down to her genitalia. It was determined that this image was located in a Dropbox account. The agent learned that Dropbox had independently contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Further investigation by HSI revealed that the subscriber to the Dropbox account was Jaime Sailas, who was determined to reside at an address in Brighton, Colorado.
As the investigation progressed it was determined that in addition to Dropbox, Sailas also allegedly used two Google email addresses to transport child pornography. He transported thousands of child pornographic images and videos. He used an email account to send a nude picture of his genitalia to someone he met online. Sailas also worked at a Brighton business named Game Trader. It was determined that child pornography activity was connected to both his home and the business. No business computers were compromised.
In connection to the investigation, agents and officers executed a search warrant at Sailas’ residence. It was discovered that in addition to Sailas, there were five additional adults and one minor child residing in the home. Sailas did have his own bedroom, which was locked. In that room multiple devices containing child pornography were discovered. Also, an image of what appeared to be an adult male’s genitalia inserted into the mouth of an infant was located on one of his devices. The genitalia in this image of child pornography appears to be consistent with the physical characteristics of the images Sailas sent via one of his email accounts. This photo was allegedly produced by Sailas.
“Those who sexually abuse our children, especially those who use infants to produce child pornography, deserve the full weight of federal law enforcement to stop them," said U.S. Attorney John Walsh. “Thanks to the work of HSI and prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, an individual responsible for such child pornography has been arrested and charged with a crime."
“Since the crimes associated with sexually victimizing children are so heinous, Homeland Security Investigations aggressively investigates these crimes with our law enforcement partners at the local, state, federal and international levels to identify and pursue prosecution against these child predators worldwide," said David A. Thompson, special agent in charge of HSI Denver. “Our investigations help bring justice to these innocent victimized children."
If convicted of production of child pornography, the defendant faces not less than 15 years, and not more than 30 years in federal prison, and up to a $250,000 fine. If convicted of transportation of child pornography, the defendant faces not less than 5 years, and not more than 20 years imprisonment, and up to a $250,000 fine. If convicted of possession of child pornography, the defendant faces not more than 10 years in federal prison, and up to a $250,000 fine.
This case was investigated by HSI with support from the Brighton Police Department.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alecia L. Riewerts.
A Criminal Complaint is a probable cause charging document. Anyone accused of committing a felony violation of federal law has a Constitutional right to be indicted by a federal grand jury.
The charges contained in the Criminal Complaint are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
