ANCHORAGE – A Fairbanks man was sentenced to six years in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release for possession of child pornography involving minors ages 1 – 15. In handing down the sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline noted the “lifelong impact” these crimes have on victims.
According to court documents, Antonio Sanchez, 25, pleaded guilty to possessing more than 60 videos and images depicting children as young as one year old forced to engage in sexually explicit conduct including intercourse and oral sex with adult males. While the child pornography files were on the defendant’s computer, a file sharing program allowed other computers to connect and download the files.
“Child pornography continually re-harms innocent children who were initially exploited to create these horrific videos and images,” said U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker for the District of Alaska. “Viewing child pornography is not a victimless crime – the children in these videos and photos are real children who were sexually abused on camera. Because the images are widely shared on the Internet, the children are re-victimized thousands of times as strangers watch and re-watch the sexual abuse. Together, with our law enforcement partners, we are committed to seeking justice for these children.”
“Obtaining and possessing child pornography is a federal crime. Sanchez will now spend the next six years in federal prison for possessing such despicable material,” said Special Agent in Charge Antony Jung of the FBI Anchorage Field Office. “The FBI is committed, working side by side with our state and local partners, to investigate and combat these horrific crimes against children.”
The FBI and Anchorage Police Department investigated this case as part of the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood combines 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.justice.gov/psc.
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