SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Joshua Klomp, 48, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty today to possession of child pornography following a prior sex offense conviction, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, in 2018, during a probation visit in 2018, Klomp was found to be in possession of two cellphones that contained thousands of images and video files of thousands of images and video files of children engaging in sexually explicit conduct. At the time he possessed these images and video files, Klomp was on federal supervised release for a 2006 federal conviction for possession of child pornography. Klomp served 10 years in prison for that offense. Prior to that federal conviction, Klomp was also previously convicted in Butte County in 1995 of committing a lewd and lascivious act with a child.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sam Stefanki is prosecuting the case.
Klomp is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd on Feb. 14, 2023. Klomp faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison, as well as a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
This case 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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.justice.gov/psc.