Tucson Man Sentenced to More Than 17 Years in Prison for Distribution and Possession of Child Pornography

TUCSON, AZ—U.S. District Court Judge David S. Doty sentenced Jason Farineau, of Tucson, to 210 months’ imprisonment on Monday for distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography. Farineau, 29, was convicted of his offenses following a jury trial on November 8, 2010.

Farineau came to the attention of the FBI in March of 2008, as part of an investigation into the online trade of child pornography. FBI agents discovered that Farineau was sharing images of child pornography via the Internet. Using file-sharing software, the FBI agent was able to download child pornography files from a computer at the defendant’s residence. A subsequent forensic examination of the defendant’s laptop computer revealed that he possessed eight videos of child pornography involving children as young as 3 years old. The defendant claimed that at the time of the online investigation he had not yet been living at the residence, and claimed that he was unaware of the child pornography files on his computer. However, the evidence introduced at trial showed that the computer from which the FBI agent downloaded the child pornography images was the defendant's laptop, and that the defendant had accessed and viewed the child pornography videos found on his computer.

Upon release from prison, Farineau will be placed on lifetime supervised release. He will be required to register as a sex offender and to complete a sex offender treatment program.

The investigation leading to the conviction was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution was handled by Angela Woolridge and Carin Duryee, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, District of Arizona, Tucson.

CASE NUMBER: CR-09-0794-TUC-CKJ
RELEASE NUMBER: 2011-053(Farineau)