Charlotte Man Sentenced To 20 Years For Transportation Of Child Pornography

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jose Emilio Alvarado Ochoa, 45, of Charlotte, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and 30 years of supervised release today for transportation of child pornography, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Alvarado Ochoa was also ordered to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison.

Robert M. DeWitt, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, and Chief Johnny Jennings of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department join U.S. Attorney King in making today’s announcement.

According to court documents and evidence presented at the sentencing hearing, from 2018 to 2021, Alvarado Ochoa repeatedly uploaded child pornography to his Dropbox account. Investigators determined that Alvarado Ochoa made some of the child pornography images and videos that he uploaded and that this child pornography depicted Alvarado Ochoa sexually abusing a minor.  Alvarado Ochoa also possessed more than 600 child pornography images and videos. At today’s sentencing hearing, the Court granted the government’s request for the maximum 20 year sentence due to the nature and circumstances of Alvarado Ochoa’s offense.

Alvarado Ochoa is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King commended the FBI and CMPD for their investigation of the case.

Assistant United States Attorney Kimlani Ford of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.