SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Zaid Bader Jacob, 47, of West Sacramento, is scheduled to be arraigned today after a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging him with receipt of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at Jacob’s residence in April 2015 after they identified an IP address there offering child pornography over the internet via a peer-to-peer network. The indictment alleges that between January and April 2015, Jacob used a computer to receive one or more visual depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a federally and state-funded task force managed by the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department with agents from federal, state, and local agencies. The Sacramento ICAC investigates online child exploitation crimes, including child pornography, enticement, and sex trafficking. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shelley D. Weger is prosecuting the case.
If convicted, Jacob faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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 U.S. 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 those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “resources" tab for information about internet safety education.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
