Political Consultant Arrested on Federal Child Pornography Charges

ALBUQUERQUE—Jason Loera, 44, a political consultant and former resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was arrested Friday in Los Angeles, California, by the FBI. Loera’s arrest was based on an indictment alleging child pornography charges that was filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. Loera made his initial appearance in federal court in Los Angeles earlier this afternoon. Loera was released on a $20,000 bond and under electronic monitoring and was ordered to report to the federal court in Albuquerque to face the charges in the indictment.

The three-count indictment charges Loera with two counts of receiving visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and one count of possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. According to the indictment, Loera allegedly committed these offenses in September 2009 and February 2010 in Bernalillo County, New Mexico.

If convicted of the offenses alleged in the indictment, Loera faces a maximum sentence of not less than five years or more than 20 years in prison. Loera also would be required to register as a sex offender. Charges in indictments are merely accusations. All criminal defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque Division of the FBI and the New Mexico Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson 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/.