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Press Release

Sacramento Man Indicted For Sharing Child Pornography Files

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned an indictment Thursday, charging Michael Bailey, 59, of Sacramento, with receipt and distribution of child pornography, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to court documents, law enforcement officers conducting an undercover investigation into online child pornography being shared over peer-to-peer networks located an Internet user in Sacramento making child pornography available for download. When officers executed a search warrant at Bailey’s home, a computer containing the pornographic videos was recovered.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Sacramento Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Assistant United States Attorney Matthew G. Morris is prosecuting the case.

Bailey was arrested on July 22, 2014, and has been in custody since then. He is scheduled to be arraigned on August 6, 2014.

If convicted, Bailey faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A conviction for receipt or distribution of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative 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.justice.gov/psc. Click on the “resources” tab for information about Internet safety.

Updated April 8, 2015

Press Release Number: Docket #: 2:14-cr-207