POCATELLO - Ray Carl Short, 67, of Oakley, Idaho, was sentenced today to 180 months for attempting to produce sexually explicit videos and still images of a minor child, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Short to forfeit the camera and computer equipment used to commit the offense.
Short pleaded guilty on Jan. 15, 2015 to attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. According to the plea agreement, an undercover special agent with Homeland Security Investigations downloaded 26 sexually exploitative images and videos of minors from Short in January 2014. In July, law enforcement agents searched Short’s residence pursuant to a federal search warrant and seized a laptop computer, a Brickhouse Security camera, and other related items. A forensic analysis of the laptop and other electronic media revealed approximately 2,934 images and 144 video files of suspected child pornography. When these images and video files were sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, it identified victims in 345 of the images and 16 of the video files.
In a folder located on Short’s computer’s hard drive, law enforcement agents observed six video files and nine image files of an additional minor victim, several of which contained sexually exploitative content. Yet more sexually exploitative videos and images of the victim were located in sub-folders.
On the day law enforcement agents executed the search warrant, Short admitted to having downloaded and received images that would be illegal or constitute child pornography and that there were images of child pornography on his laptop. In court, Short also admitted that he placed the Brickhouse camera in hidden locations in order to use the victim to take part in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of that conduct.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the assistance of the Cassia County Sheriff’s Office and Cassia County Prosecutor’s Office.
"Tragically, each time sexually explicit photos and videos of minors are downloaded, the young people shown are victimized again," said Bradford Bench, special agent in charge for ICE HSI in Seattle, Wash. "This sentencing clearly demonstrates the consequences facing those who are attempting to produce sexually explicit images and videos of minor children. ICE Homeland Security Investigations will continue to use every tool at its disposal to keep our children safe and ensure child predators are brought to justice."
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, 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, 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."
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
