Defendant, Rande Brian Isabella, earlier convicted at trial for enticement of a minor and attempted production of child pornography
DENVER - Rande Brian Isabella, age 60, of Hubbard, Ohio, was sentenced late yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Christine M. Arguello to serve 216 months (18 years) in federal prison, followed by 20 years on supervised release for one count of coercion and enticement of a minor and one count of attempted production of child pornography, Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge John Eisert announced. The defendant who appeared at the sentencing hearing in custody, was remanded at its conclusion.
Isabella was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 20, 2014. On October 7, 2016 the defendant was convicted of coercion and enticement of a minor and one count of attempted production of child pornography following a 11 day jury trial. The jury acquitted the defendant on two other charges. He was sentenced on May 24, 2017.
According to the facts presented at trial, between September and December 2013, Isabella communicated via phone and online with a 14 year-old girl in Colorado. Through these communications, he misrepresented his age to her and repeatedly asked for pictures of her as their conversations became increasingly sexual in nature. Ultimately, he was able to persuade her to send him a naked photograph of herself. Isabella told the minor girl that he was her boyfriend and asked her to stay with him if he traveled to Colorado. He sent her a photograph of his own genitalia, encouraging her to respond in kind. She did send him more pictures of herself, some sexual in nature, before she lost her phone. The minor girl’s mother found her phone and discovered these conversations with Isabella. She sought the help of law enforcement, and HSI began investigating the defendant’s online activities.
During the course of the investigation, federal agents determined Isabella’s identity and address. A search warrant was then obtained and executed at his home in Ohio. Agents seized his phone and two of his computers. On his phone, they found the communications with the minor girl and photographs of her that he had saved. On his computer, a forensic analyst found that Isabella had Googled the minor girl shortly after they began communicating and that he had visited her Facebook profile, looking at her friends and photos. He also visited three different website pages which showed that the minor girl had competed in 2012 in middle school track races. After viewing those pages, Isabella continued to communicate with the minor girl and saved to his phone the nude image she sent him. Evidence was also introduced at the trial and at the sentencing hearing that Isabella had communicated with three additional minor females and was in possession of nude images of those minors.
“These folks are the worst kind of predators," said Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer. “But thanks to HSI and our elite prosecutors, they learn as Mr. Isabella did that there are another class of predators above them in the food chain."
“The prison sentences for those who produce child pornography are appropriately lengthy, such as this 18-year federal prison sentence for Rande Isabella," said John Eisert, acting special agent in charge of HSI Denver. “HSI has a very active Operation Predator program to identify and investigate those who sexually exploit children, and to rescue the victims of these predators."
This case was investigated by HSI. The defendant was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alecia Riewerts and Celeste Rangel.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
