Former Santa Fe Resident Indicted on Federal Child Pornography Charges
| U.S. Attorney’s Office November 14, 2012 |
ALBUQUERQUE—This morning, Carl Labadie, 60, currently a Colorado resident, made his initial appearance in federal court on an indictment charging him with possession of a visual depiction of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Labadie is temporarily detained pending his arraignment on the indictment and a detention hearing, both of which are scheduled for November 15, 2012.
The indictment charges that Labadie possessed child pornography in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, on March 1, 2012. At the time the offense allegedly was committed, Labadie was a resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he was self-employed as an acupuncture and massage therapist.
If convicted of the charge, Labadie faces a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
The case was investigated by the New Mexico State Police and Homeland Security Investigations and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlyn E. Rees.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that Labadie was charged as part of Operation Artemis, an investigative effort by federal, state, and local law enforcement affiliates of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force aimed at identifying individuals throughout New Mexico involved in the distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography through peer-to-peer file sharing programs. In March 2012, federal, state, and local law enforcement officers executed thirteen unrelated federal and state search warrants at residences throughout New Mexico and seized computers and computer-related evidence related to child pornography offenses. To date, six individuals have been arrested for violating federal and state child pornography laws based on the search warrants executed as part of Operation Artemis. The law enforcement agencies that participated in Operation Artemis include: Homeland Security Investigations, the New Mexico State Police, New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, FBI, Albuquerque Police Department, Los Lunas Police Department, Santa Fe Police Department, Rio Rancho Police Department, and the New Mexico Regional Computer Forensic Lab.
Operation Artemis was brought 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 Operation 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 64 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies associated with the 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.
Charges in indictments are merely accusations. All criminal defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.