Superseding Indictment Filed in Federal Child Exploitation Case Against Albuquerque Man

ALBUQUERQUE – A federal grand jury filed a superseding indictment yesterday charging Bentley Streett, 39, of Albuquerque, N.M., with child exploitation charges.

Streett was arrested on Oct. 3, 2014, by the FBI and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) on a criminal complaint alleging federal child exploitation charges.  According to the criminal complaint, the investigation into Streett began in Oct. 2013, after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children forwarded a tip to the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.  Streett subsequently was indicted on Oct. 21, 2014, and charged with two counts of coercion and enticement of minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct and two counts of transferring obscene matter to minors.

The nine-count superseding indictment filed by the grand jury yesterday charges Streett with two counts of interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with minors; four counts of attempted production of visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and three counts of transferring obscene matter to minors.  Counts 1 and 2 of the superseding indictment allege that Streett traveled from New Mexico to Illinois in July 2013 and Aug. 2013, for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor female victim.  Counts 3 and 6 allege that Streett attempted to persuade a second minor female victim to produce child pornography in Sept. 2013 and Dec. 2013, and Counts 4 and 5 allege that he attempted to persuade a third minor female victim to produce child pornography on two occasions in Nov. 2013.  Count 7 alleges that Street transferred obscene material to the first minor female victim in July 2013, and Counts 8 and 9 allege that Streett transferred obscene matter to the third minor female victim in Nov. 2013 and Jan. 2014. 

If convicted of the charges in the superseding indictment, Streett faces the following statutory penalties:  imprisonment up to 30 years on each of Counts 1 and 2, the interstate travel to engage in illicit sex charges; not less than 15 years and not more than 30 years on each of Counts 3 through 6, the attempted production of child pornography charges; and imprisonment up to ten years on each of Counts 7 through 9, the transfer of obscene materials charges.  If convicted of any charge in the superseding indictment, Streett also would be required to register as a sex offender.  Charges in indictments are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the FBI, the BCSO and the New Mexico ICAC Task Force.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shammara H. Henderson 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 http://www.justice.gov/psc/.

The case also was brought as a part of the New Mexico ICAC Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico.  There are 74 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico ICAC 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.