Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts of Los Angeles, California and the U.S.

July 14, 2009

PORTERVILLE MAN SENTENCED TO 17.5 YEARS IMPRISONMENT FOR PRODUCING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

FRESNO, Calif.—Acting United States Attorney Lawrence G. Brown announced that VICTOR ISREAL MARTINEZ, 30, of Porterville, California, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii for his conviction for one count of sexual exploitation of a minor by production of images of that minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The sentence imposed includes a prison term of 210 months to be followed by a lifetime term of supervised release during which his access to minors, computers, and the Internet will be restricted.

The case was the result of an investigation by the Fresno Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, specifically the Lindsay and Porterville Police Departments, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department, and the Fresno Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The prosecution was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

According to Assistant United States Attorney David Gappa, who prosecuted the case, MARTINEZ admitted that on September 8, 2007, in Tulare County he knowingly used or coerced a minor female to engage in sexually explicit conduct for purposes of producing at least one visual depiction of the conduct. MARTINEZ took digital still images of the minor female, transferred them to a computer, then uploaded them to a Yahoo! account and transferred the images to a second Yahoo! account. MARTINEZ received sentencing enhancements because his offense involved sexual contact with the minor victim, the victim was under age twelve, and he distributed images of the minor.

MARTINEZ has been detained as a flight risk and danger to the community since his initial appearance in federal court on January 30, 2009.

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CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER

JOSEPH SHEMARIA

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Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts of Los Angeles, California and the U.S.