Computer Programmer Sentenced to 72 Months in Prison for Federal Child Pornography Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE—Yesterday afternoon in federal court in Santa Fe, Isaac L. Adams, a 35-year-old computer programmer from Albuquerque, was sentenced to a 72-month term of imprisonment to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release for his child pornography conviction. Adams also will be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence.

U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that Adams initially was arrested on state charges in September 2010 by the District Attorney’s Office for the Second Judicial District Court as part of Operation Predator. Adams was arrested on federal charges on October 12, 2010, and has been in federal custody since that time.

On January 27, 2011, Adams entered a guilty plea to an information charging him with receipt of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In entering his guilty plea, Adams acknowledged that, on September 24, 2010, investigators with the ICAC Task Force executed a search warrant at his residence and seized his computer and computer-related equipment. The search warrant was based on information obtained during an undercover operation by the New Mexico State Police aimed at identifying individuals who possess, receive and/or distribute child pornography. Adams voluntarily submitted to a tape-recorded interview with ICAC Task Force investigators during which he admitted to downloading images and videos of child pornography by using peer-to-peer file-sharing programs. Adams also acknowledged that a forensic examination of his computer and computer-related equipment revealed numerous child pornography videos and images.

Operation Predator was an investigative effort by federal, state and local law enforcement affiliates of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force aimed at identifying individuals throughout New Mexico involved in the distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography through peer-to-peer file sharing programs. Twenty-two search warrants were executed and eight defendants were arrested in September 2010 as a result of Operation Predator. All eight defendants were convicted of child pornography offenses and are serving prison sentences.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlyn E. Rees and was investigated by the New Mexico State Police, Homeland Security Investigations and other agencies that participate in the ICAC Task Force. The law enforcement agencies that participated in Operation Predator include: Albuquerque Police Department, Farmington Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Las Cruces Police Department, New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, New Mexico State Police, Rio Rancho Police Department, Santa Fe Police Department, the United States Marshal’s Office in Las Cruces, the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office, and the Eighth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Operation Predator was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s 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.

Operation Predator also was brought as part of the New Mexico ICAC Task Force 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 Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office. Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.