Bremerton, Washington Man Pleads Guilty to Production of Child Pornography

Spokane– Today, Michael C. Ormsby, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that Larry Gutierrez, age 50, of Bremerton, Washington, pled guilty to the criminal charge of production of child pornography. United States District Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr. accepted Gutierrez’s guilty plea and scheduled a sentencing hearing for August 23, 2016, at 11:15 a.m. in Spokane, Washington.

According to information disclosed during the court proceedings, on September 23, 2014 the mother of a 9 year-old girl in Spokane, Washington reported that she (the mother) found child pornography on her child’s phone. The child was interviewed and she stated that she met a man on the communication application Kik Messenger. The child sent the man nude images of herself, per his request. Subsequent search warrants revealed the man was Gutierrez.

During their investigation, law enforcement agents discovered a communication chat between Gutierrez and the child. In the chat the child tells Gutierrez that she is in 4th grade and also tells him when she will turn ten years old. During the chat, Gutierrez sends the child several images of a younger athletic male, claiming the photos were of him, which they were not. Gutierrez made specific requests that the child send him pornographic videos showing her genitalia. A few days later, Gutierrez chatted that if the child did not send him more images, he would post her images along with her Kik Messenger name so other adult men could contact her.

Search warrants executed on Gutierrez’s electronic devices revealed similar images of a great number of other children. Gutierrez had some children hold a sign indicating their age as shown in those images. One child is seen holding a sign indicating her tender age and then another sign which reads, “Stop blackmailing me.” Gutierrez threatened several children by claiming that he would post their photos if they did not send what he was asking for.

“Sextortion” is a serious crime that occurs when someone threatens to distribute your private and sensitive material if you don’t provide them images of a sexual nature, sexual favors, or money. The perpetrator may also threaten to harm your friends or relatives by using information they have obtained from your electronic devices unless you comply with their demands. Sextortion can have devastating effects on young victims from all walks of life, and it is easy to become a victim.

Online perpetrators might gain a person’s trust by pretending to be someone they are not. They lurk in chat rooms and record young people who post or live-stream sexually explicit images and videos of themselves, or they may hack into a person’s electronic devices using malware to gain access to files and control the person’s web camera and microphone without she/he knowing it.

Here are some things individuals can do to avoid becoming a sextortion victim:

• Never send compromising images of yourself to anyone, no matter who they are—or who they say they are.

• Do not open attachments from people you do not know.

• Turn off your electronic devices and web cameras when you are not using them.

Michael C. Ormsby stated: “If you are receiving sextortion threats, you are not alone. It is likely the perpetrator is an adult pretending to be a teenager, and you are just one of the many victims being targeted by the same person. Young people should not be afraid to talk to an adult and/or to call the FBI. If you believe you’re a victim of sextortion, or know someone else who is, call your local FBI office or toll-free at 1-800-CALL-FBI.”

Additional information about sextortion can be found online at:

FBI: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2015/july/sextortion/video/what-is-sextortion

DOJ: https://www.justice.gov/psc/videos

https://www.justice.gov/psc/video/sextortion-public-service-announcement-60-seconds

https://www.justice.gov/psc/national-strategy-child-exploitation-prevention-and-interdiction