Jacksonville Man Found Guilty of Production of Child Pornography and Making False Statements to FBI

JACKSONVILLE, FL—U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announced today that a federal jury has found Alberto Martinez Riquene (44, Jacksonville) guilty of using a minor to produce a video of child pornography and of making false statements in connection with matters being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Riquene faces up to 30 years in federal prison for the production charge, and up to 10 years in federal prison for making false statements. Riquene is in the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending his sentencing hearing.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, between February 24, 2010 and March 31, 2010, Riquene engaged in commercial sex acts on five to 10 occasions with a 15-year-old minor female at Riquene’s residence in Jacksonville. This minor child had become addicted to crack cocaine, and was introduced to prostitution by other individuals as a way to obtain more crack cocaine. On one such occasion, while the minor child and Riquene were engaged in a commercial sex act at his residence, Riquene made a video recording of the minor child engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

According to court records, on July 28, 2010, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and three Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office detectives interviewed Riquene at his residence. Riquene acknowledged that he knew the minor child. However, when asked about his relationship with the minor child, Riquene falsely stated that the minor child had never been in his bedroom or in any part of his house, he had never had sex with her, and he had never touched her.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, law enforcement officers subsequently received information that the minor child had used Riquene’s computer to access her Myspace account while she was at Riquene’s residence. The FBI then obtained two search warrants for the computer media at the residence. Forensic analysis revealed that the minor child’s Myspace account had been accessed using Riquene’s computer. In addition, several videos were discovered on Riquene’s computer hard disk drive, including a video depicting the minor child and Riquene engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mac D. Heavener, Diidri W. Robinson, and D. Rodney Brown.

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 (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov and click on the tab “other resources.”