Sacramento Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Distributing Child Pornography

SACRAMENTO—United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Eric John Guanco, 42, of Sacramento, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. to 15 years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, for distributing child pornography.

According to court documents, on October 21, 2010, an undercover FBI agent signed onto a peer-to-peer file sharing program. Using an undercover screen name, the agent observed that Guanco was logged into the network. The undercover agent proceeded to browse the shared directories belonging to Guanco and observed that this user had password protected files. Via the chat program, Guanco provided two separate passwords for the folders containing child pornography. The agent downloaded 253 image files directly from Guanco, with the majority of the files depicting child pornography.

On November 18, 2010, a federal search warrant was executed at Guanco’s residence. Approximately 4, 217 images and 49 videos of child pornography were found on Guanco’s hard drive. At sentencing, Judge England stated that one of the factors he considered was Guanco’s admission to FBI agents that he had previously molested two minors.

This case was the result of an investigation by the FBI, Sacramento Division, Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force on Internet Crimes Against Children. Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Prince 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 Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov or call the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California and ask to speak with the PSC coordinator.