SAN FRANCISCO – Charles Richard Barrett made an initial appearance today in federal court on a criminal complaint for receipt of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Tatum King. Barrett made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson.
According to the complaint filed March 30, 2022, and unsealed today, Barrett, 33, of San Francisco, is a teacher at a private elementary and middle school in San Francisco. In June of 2020, as part of an investigation into Barrett’s partner, federal agents came into possession of a computer found in Barrett’s residence. The complaint alleges that evidence recently obtained from the computer establishes that Barrett communicated with two suspected minors and received sexually explicit images involving minors from them.
Communications involving the first victim allegedly occurred between December 2013 to February 2014. According to the complaint, during that period, Barrett had a text message conversation with a minor that included sexually explicit images. Specifically, after the minor informed Barrett that he was 16-years-old, Barrett, who was 24 years old at the time, sent the victim sexually explicit images of himself and encouraged the victim to respond with sexually explicit images of himself. The victim complied. Barrett received at least nine sexually explicit images of the victim. The text exchange includes salacious descriptions of the images that were exchanged.
Communications regarding the second victim occurred in a series of text messages in 2013. Again, the victim informed Barrett that he was 16 years old and that he was a high school student in San Francisco. Barrett continued interacting with the victim, sent sexually explicit images of himself to the minor, and encouraged the minor to respond with sexually explicit images of his own. Barrett received at least four sexually explicit images of the victim.
Barrett is charged with receipt of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252(a)(2).
The charges contained in the criminal complaint are mere allegations. As in any criminal case, the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
If convicted of the charge, Barrett faces a mandatory minimum term of five years’ imprisonment and a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison. As part of a sentence, the court also may order fines, assessments, and a term of supervised release. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Magistrate Judge Hixson ordered Barrett detained pending a detention hearing. Barrett’s next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday, April 5, 2022, at 12 p.m., before Magistrate Judge Hixson, for the detention hearing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Yeh is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Claudia Hyslop. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the HSI.