PEORIA, Ill. – Sebastian Sale, 30, of Pekin, Illinois, was sentenced today to 30 years in federal prison following his conviction for attempted production of child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge James E. Shadid further ordered that Sale serve a lifetime term of supervised release upon completion of his prison sentence and register as a sex offender.
Sale, who pleaded guilty on April 8, 2021, admitted that he attempted to entice a person he believed to be a minor girl to film herself engaging in sexual conduct and to email the video to him.
In a separate but related case, Sale’s girlfriend, Rachel Miller, was sentenced on May 13, 2020, to serve 30 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a child. Specifically, Miller had recorded a video of herself engaging in sexual activity with a prepubescent male, and Sale later distributed that video through the internet.
In imposing a sentence above the advisory sentencing guideline range of 180 to 210 months, Judge Shadid noted the “sad,” “vile,” “disgusting,” and “unimaginable” conduct in which Sale had engaged. Judge Shadid also observed that the defendant’s conduct was hard to distinguish from that of Miller.
Both Sale and Miller have remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since their arrests in March 2020.
“Hopefully, the sentence Judge Shadid imposed will serve as a warning to others who may be inclined to harm minors and will make them think twice,“ said Acting United States Attorney Doug Quivey. “They will be caught. Along with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, the United States Attorney’s Office remains firmly committed to the Project Safe Childhood initiative, and we will do everything we can to both prevent and vigorously prosecute crimes against children.”
Agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Washington, Ill., Police Department investigated the case. Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Darilynn J. Knauss represented the government in the prosecution.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. 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.
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