Chico Man Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison for Receipt of Child Pornography

SACRAMENTO, CA—Amado Hernandez, 34, a former resident of Chico, California, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Garland E. Burrell, Jr. to eight years in prison for receipt of child pornography, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to court documents, in the summer of 2010 in Glenn County, California, a concerned citizen reported to law enforcement that he had found child pornography on a computer he had gotten for free at a garage sale. The computer initially appeared to be inoperable, but the citizen repaired it and discovered images of child pornography on the hard drive.

The FBI conducted a forensic review of the computer, which showed that the Microsoft Windows software loaded on the computer was registered to the defendant. The computer also contained photographs of Hernandez. The forensic review revealed that there were approximately 450 still images of child pornography and approximately 250 videos of child pornography on the abandoned computer. Many were downloaded by Hernandez using a peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

On January 2, 2011, the defendant was contacted in San Diego on the cruise ship where he worked. Law enforcement agents found child pornography on the laptop he had in his possession at that time. Hernandez admitted that he had abandoned the other computer in Chico in 2009 before he left to work on the cruise ship.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Michele Beckwith prosecuted the case.

The investigation in this case was undertaken as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC). PSC is a United States Department of Justice initiative established to increase federal prosecutions of violent sexual predators of children and to reduce the number of Internet crimes against children including child pornography trafficking. As a part of PSC, the United States Attorney’s Office has teamed with state and local agencies and organizations to increase law enforcement presence on the Internet and to educate the public about safe Internet use, thereby reducing the risk that children might fall prey to online sexual predators. For additional information on the PSC initiative, please go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov or call the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California and ask to speak with the PSC coordinator.