Arizona Man Pleads Guilty to Receipt of Child Pornography

WASHINGTON – Charles Brown, 54, of Mesa, Ariz., pleaded guilty today to one count of receiving child pornography, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Rita M. Glavin and U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Diane J. Humetewa announced.

During the plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt, Brown admitted to receiving child pornography. Specifically, Brown admitted to responding to an advertisement on the Internet offering child pornography for sale, and to ordering and submitting payment for a video advertised as containing child pornography involving a nine-year old. The advertisement had been placed by U.S. Postal Inspectors acting in an undercover capacity.  Postal Inspectors arrested Brown on April 12, 2008, shortly after he received the video.

Brown’s sentencing has been scheduled for June 1, 2009. At sentencing, Brown will face a sentence of 60 months in prison; a fine of up to $250,000, a term of supervised release of any amount up to life, and will be required to register as a sex offender in accordance with state and federal law. As part of the plea agreement, Brown also agrees to undergo sex offender treatment and counseling as directed by the probation department.

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 Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney James Silver of CEOS and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon K. Sexton of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation.