Plea Agreement Requires Prison Sentence within the Range of 10 to 15 Years; Prosecution Brought Under Project Safe Childhood
ALBUQUERQUE - Tristalyn Valencia, 29, of Farmington, N.M., entered a guilty plea today in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to a distribution of child pornography charge. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Valencia will be sentenced to a prison term within the range of ten to 15 years followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court. Valencia will be required to register as a sex offender upon her release from prison.
The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, 11th Judicial District Attorney Robert P. “Rick" Tedrow, Special Agent in Charge Waldemar Rodriguez of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso, Tex., and San Juan County Sheriff Ken Christesen.
Valencia was arrested on Dec. 24, 2015, on an indictment charging her with nine counts of producing visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. According to the indictment, Valencia committed the crimes between May 2012 and Aug. 2012 in San Juan County, N.M.
During today’s proceedings, Valencia pled guilty to a felony information charging her with distribution of child pornography. In entering the guilty plea, Valencia admitted that from June 1, 2012 through June 30, 2012, she distributed nine images containing child pornography. Valencia admitted that each image depicted the same victim, who was under the age of 12 years, engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Some of the images depicted the victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct with an adult male.
This case was investigated by the Albuquerque and Phoenix offices of HSI and the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Farmington.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mease is prosecuting the case 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/.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
