Orlando Man Sentenced to More Than Eight Years for Receiving Child Pornography

ORLANDO—U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces that U.S. District Judge Anne C. Conway today sentenced Carlos Rodriguez (51, Orlando) to 97 months in federal prison for receiving child pornography. The court also ordered Rodriguez to forfeit the computer he used to receive the child pornography and to serve a 20-year term of supervised release following his incarceration.

Rodriguez pled guilty on October 21, 2011.

According to court documents, Rodriguez received and downloaded child pornography using a file-sharing program over the Internet. In January and February 2011, a law enforcement officer downloaded pictures and videos of child pornography from Rodriguez. On March 8, 2011, law enforcement officers seized Rodriguez’s computer and located 78 pictures and 102 videos of child pornography. Many of the images and videos depicted the sexual abuse of young children. Rodriguez told the officers that he had been downloading child pornography for at least five years.

The 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.”

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Karen L. Gable.