Yakima, Washington – On March 2, Chief U.S. District Judge Stanley A. Bastian sentenced Douglas Craig Parsley, 34, of Yakima, Washington, to 22 years in federal prison for attempted production of child pornography. Chief Judge Bastian also ordered Parsley to serve an additional 20 years on federal supervision after he is released from prison. Parsley pleaded guilty on October 27, 2021.
According to court documents, Parsley attempted to produce child pornography by photographing a toddler he was babysitting while the child’s mother was at work. Parsley photographed his minor victim in nude and partially nude states.
The investigation began in 2019 when an Internet Crimes Against Children (“ICAC”) Task Force Officers in Contra Costa, California, arrested a person who was trying to meet up with another person to engage in sexual activity with a minor. Search warrants led to the discovery of communications with Parsley, and law enforcement agents obtained a federal search warrant for Parsley’s home in Yakima. During the execution of that warrant, officers seized a variety of Parsley’s electronic devices, which contained forensic evidence demonstrating that Parsley had taken images of a toddler he was babysitting the previous November. It also became clear that Parsley had used those images in online communications with others.
U.S. Attorney Vanessa R. Waldref commended the efforts of the Homeland Security Investigations agents and task force officers in this case: “It is a nightmare scenario for parents that a babysitter who is entrusted with the care of a small child would memorialize sexual images of that child and distribute them online. Mr. Parsley’s egregious conduct warrants every minute of the significant sentence imposed. The children of the Eastern District of Washington deserve to live in a safe and strong community just as their parents do. I am deeply grateful for the work of Homeland Security Investigations, our local and state partners, and the ICAC Task Force, which builds fortresses around our children all across the Nation. It is everyone’s job to protect children, and this case shows that we will work across state lines and follow every lead to do so.”
“Mr. Parsley made a decision to take advantage of a working mother while using the Internet to trade child exploitation images. His decision will keep him behind bars for the next 22 years,” said Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Robert Hammer, who oversees HSI operations in the Pacific Northwest. “This is an example of how our Task Force-based law enforcement partnerships are continuously working around the clock to keep Washington communities safe from child predators.”
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.
This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, with the Southeast Regional ICAC Task Force, and the Contra Costa County, California, District Attorney’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Michael Murphy, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.