Sacramento Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation of Children

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jayson Fernandez Butay, 29, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty today to one count of producing child sexual abuse material and one count of possessing child sexual abuse material, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. 

According to court documents, in April 2019, Butay used Snapchat to correspond with a 15-year-old girl living in Finland. Butay convinced her to send him naked images of herself. Once he received these images, Butay threatened to disclose them to his victim’s family and friends unless she sent him sexually explicit videos. In this way, Butay obtained at least one additional sexually explicit video.

Law enforcement agents subsequently executed federal search warrants at Butay’s residence in Sacramento and seized hundreds of images and videos from Butay’s digital devices that depicted the sexual exploitation of children.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sam Stefanki is prosecuting the case.

Butay is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb on April 29, 2024. Butay faces a maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine with a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison. The actual sentence, however, will 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.

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 exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.