BOISE - Jose Luis “Joey" Sanchez, 39, of Boise, pleaded guilty yesterday in United States District Court to access with intent to view child pornography, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced.
According to court records, between October 2015 and January 2016, agents with Homeland Security Investigations monitored an online video conferencing application used to view and exchange images of child pornography. Agents identified Sanchez as a user from Idaho who had logged into the chatroom and viewed child pornography on seventeen separate occasions.
In May 2016, investigators with the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) served a search warrant on Sanchez’s residence in Boise, Idaho, and seized a laptop computer. Sanchez admitted that he had used the video conferencing application and viewed images of child pornography. On Sanchez’s laptop, investigators found evidence that it was used to access the video conferencing application, that Sanchez had communicated with other users about sexual acts with children, and that Sanchez exchanged information on chatrooms where images of child pornography were available.
Sentencing is set for Sept. 25, 2018, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill. Access with intent to view child pornography is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a term of supervised release of not less than five years and up to life, and a $5,100 special assessment. As part of his plea, Sanchez also agreed to forfeit the computer and electronic storage devices used in the commission of the charged offense.
This case was investigated by the ICAC Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations, and 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. As part of Project Safe Childhood, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office marshal 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
