SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A Springfield, Missouri, man was convicted by a federal trial jury today of receiving and distributing child pornography.
Marco Barraza, 27, was found guilty of one count of receiving and distributing child pornography.
Law enforcement investigators received two reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Barraza had transmitted images of child pornography through chat sessions on his Tumblr account in September 2016. Officers executed a search warrant at Barraza’s residence on March 16, 2017, and seized numerous computer-related property, including three cell phones and two hard drives that had been removed from laptop computers. Those devices contained approximately 600 images of child pornography.
Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo., deliberated for less than an hour before returning the guilty verdict to U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark, ending a trial that began Monday, Oct. 28.
Under federal statutes, Barraza is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 20 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher and Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall D. Eggert. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, and the Barry County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department.
Project Safe Childhood
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
