Lubbock Man Admits Producing Child Pornography

LUBBOCK, TX—Njeazeh Roderigue Ambeabet, 24, of Lubbock, appeared in federal court today, before U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings, and pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. Ambeabet faces a statutory sentence of not less than 15 years or more than 30 years in federal prison, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to a lifetime of supervised release. Judge Cummings ordered a pre-sentence investigation report with a sentencing date to be set after the completion of that report. Ambeabet has been in custody since his arrest in February 2013.

According to documents filed in the case, last year, Ambeabet met an 11-year-old girl online and engaged in a texting relationship with her, frequently asking her to engage in sexual relations with him. He admitted that he was well aware of her age, and that he received sexually explicit images of her that were taken with her cell phone at his request.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the 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 sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”

The investigation is being conducted by the FBI and the Lubbock Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy is in charge of the prosecution.