Albuquerque Man Receives 20-Year Prison Sentence for Federal Child Sexual Exploitation and Pornography Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE—Yesterday in federal court in Santa Fe, Kevin Dwyer, a 37-year-old Albuquerque resident, was sentenced to a 20-year term of imprisonment to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release for his conviction on child sexual exploitation and pornography charges, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales. Dwyer will be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence.

Dwyer entered a guilty plea to a two-count indictment charging him with (i) using the Internet, computers, and telephones to coerce and entice a minor to engage in sexual activity; and (ii) attempted production of child pornography on June 2, 2011.

In entering his plea, Dwyer admitted that, from June 24, 2010 to June 26, 2010, he used the Internet and telephone to have conversations that were sexual in nature with a person he believed to be an 11-year-old female child (child). During these conversations with the child, Dwyer discussed traveling to Clovis, N.M. from Albuquerque for the purpose of having sexual contact with the child. Dwyer also admitted traveling to Clovis on June 26, 2010 for this unlawful purpose and was arrested by Curry County Sheriff’s deputies on his arrival at the child’s residence.

During a search incident to Dwyer’s arrest, the deputies found a digital camera in one of Dwyer’s pockets, which Dwyer admitted he intended to use to create sexually explicit images of the child. Dwyer further admitted that, during a tape-recorded interview following his arrest, he told the deputies that he met an 11-year-old child on the Internet; had sexually explicit conversations with the child; and traveled to Clovis for the purpose of having sex with the child.

Dwyer has been in custody since his arrest.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Charlyn E. Rees, and was investigated by the Curry County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Albuquerque Police Department. It 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 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 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.

The case also was brought as part of the New Mexico ICAC whose mission it is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico. There are 61 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies associated with the Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the NMAGO. Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.