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Press Release

Roswell Man Charged with Federal Child Pornography Offenses

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Mexico
Prosecution Brought Under Project Safe Childhood

ALBUQUERQUE – A U.S. Magistrate Judge sitting in Las Cruces, N.M., today found probable cause to support a criminal complaint charging Dain Justin Adams, 37, of Roswell, N.M., with child pornography offenses.  The Magistrate Judge also remanded Adams into custody pending trial, which has yet to be scheduled.

The FBI arrested Adams on Sept. 19, 2018, on a criminal complaint charging him with possessing and distributing child pornography from May 2018 through June 2018, in Chaves County, N.M.  According to the complaint, the investigation leading to Adams’ arrest began in May 2018, when a special agent of the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office who was working in an undercover capacity signed into a peer-to-peer file-sharing network which allegedly was used by individuals who shared child pornography.  The special agent learned that an IP Address subscribed to Adams’ residence in Roswell allegedly was being used to share child pornography.

On June 27, 2018, state law enforcement executed a state search warrant on Adams’ residence.  While executing the search warrant, law enforcement seized multiple devices including a computer, which allegedly contained at least seven videos of suspected child pornography.

The statutory penalty for a conviction on a distribution of child pornography charge is a mandatory minimum of five years and maximum of 20 years of imprisonment.  The statutory penalty for a conviction on a possession of child pornography charge is a maximum of 20 years in prison.  Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty in a court of law.

This case was investigated by the Roswell office of the FBI, the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office and the Chaves County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marisa A. Ong and Dustin Segovia of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office are prosecuting the case 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 information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/

The case also was brought as a part of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (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 86 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico 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.

Updated September 25, 2018

Topic
Project Safe Childhood