Orangevale Man Indicted for Receiving Child Pornography

SACRAMENTO, CA—A federal grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging John Hurley Wood, 78, of Orangevale, with receiving child pornography between July 27, 2013 and August 30, 2013, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to court documents, two task force officers visited Wood based on an anonymous complaint on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s website. Wood invited the officers in and allowed them to search his computer. He admitted he had inappropriate images on his computer equipment. He also indicated that he had molested two boys while he was living in Half Moon Bay, California, in the 1970s and had molested two other victims around 1990 while living in the Pacific Northwest.

This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The Sacramento ICAC is a federally and state-funded task force managed by the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department with agents from federal, state, and local agencies. The Sacramento ICAC investigates online child exploitation crimes, including child pornography, enticement, and sex trafficking. Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Reardon is prosecuting the case.

Anyone having information about the case should contact the ICAC Task Force at (916) 874-3003.

Wood is scheduled to be arraigned today at 2:00 p.m. If convicted, Wood faces a maximum statutory penalty of five to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a lifetime period of supervised release. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “Resources” tab for information about Internet safety education.