Turlock Registered Sex Offender Pleads Guilty to Receipt of Child Pornography

FRESNO, CA—Charles Albert Risley Jr., 54, of Turlock, pleaded guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii to one count of receipt of child pornography, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to court documents, a Ceres Police Department detective determined that Risley was making files of child pornography available to users of a file sharing network in July and August 2012. Risley had been convicted in Merced County in 1993 for committing lewd acts with a child under the age of 14 and received a six-year prison term for that conviction. Again, in 2004, he was convicted in Stanislaus County for possession of child pornography. Risley admitted in court today that between July 20, 2012 and September 1, 2012, he used the Internet to receive more than 600 images of child pornography. Many of the images depicted prepubescent minors, and several depicted violence or sadistic or masochistic conduct.

Risley is scheduled to be sentenced on June 10, 2013. He faces 15 to 40 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a lifetime term of supervised release. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Ceres Police Department. Risley has been in federal custody since October 12, 2012, and he has been ordered detained as a flight risk and danger to the community. Assistant United States Attorney David Gappa is prosecuting the case.

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 sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “Resources” tab for information about Internet safety education.