Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography

MINNEAPOLIS—Recently in federal court, a 29-year-old man pleaded guilty to producing child pornography. On November 16, 2011, Abimael Castellon-Laureano pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography. Castellon-Laureano, who was indicted on April 12, 2011, entered his plea before United States District Court Judge David S. Doty.

In his plea agreement, Castellon-Laureano admitted that between April of 2009 and January of 2010, he induced minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct. Police seized a DVD that contained the child pornography during the execution of a search warrant at Castellon-Laureano’s residence. The two victims were under the age of 10 during that time period. Castellon-Laureano is currently incarcerated in state prison on other charges.

For his crime, Castellon-Laureano faces a potential maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison, with a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years. Judge Doty will determine his sentence at a future hearing.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Minnesota Cyber Crimes Task Force, which is sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service. Other agencies that participated in the investigation include the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and the Dayton Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle E. Jones.

Presently, the Justice Department is funding a study concerning the correlation between involvement in child pornography and the hands-on sexual abuse of children. A 2008 study (The Butner Study) published in the Journal of Family Violence found that up to 80 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for possession, receipt, or distribution of child pornography also admitted to hands-on sexual abuse of children, ranging from touching to rape.

The U.S. Department of Justice is committed to combating the sexual exploitation of children, particularly via the Internet. In Fiscal Year 2010, 2,235 defendants pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges, 2,222 of whom were sentenced to prison. In Fiscal Year 2009, 2,083 defendants were sentenced to prison on child pornography charges. For more information about these efforts, please visit the Department’s Project Safe Childhood website, at www.projectsafechildhood.gov.