U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark has sentenced a Colombian national to nine years in prison for possession of child pornography. Fabio Murillo Sanchez, aged 51, entered a guilty plea in October to one felony count related to the crime.
In 2023, a detective from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department downloaded child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from an IP address traced back to Sanchez's residence via the BitTorrent peer-to-peer network. During an interview with investigators, Sanchez admitted to possessing CSAM and handed over three computer devices. He also confessed to viewing such material since 2009.
The FBI's investigation uncovered 686 videos and 1,392 images containing CSAM, along with over 19,000 images of "child erotica and nude child modeling," according to his plea agreement.
The case was investigated by both the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes is handling the prosecution.
This legal action is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse. The project coordinates federal, state, and local resources to apprehend individuals exploiting children online and aims to identify and rescue victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
