FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
April 4, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: CR-F-10-00427 OWW

FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Andrew Martinez, 23, of Bakersfield, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Fresno to receiving images of child pornography.

This case is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Bakersfield. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Gappa.

According to court documents, investigators determined that a computer at Martinez's residence was making images of child pornography available on a file-sharing network. Investigators executed a search warrant and found a computer that contained dozens of still and video files of child pornography.

Martinez had been charged in the Kern County Superior Court in a separate investigation with the continuous sexual abuse of three minors, and he had been released on bail. Those charges remain pending. In the federal case, he has been ordered detained as a flight risk and danger to the community.

Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13, 2011 by Senior United States District Judge Oliver W. Wanger. He faces a sentence of at least five years up to a maximum of 20 years in prison and a lifetime term of supervised release. In his plea agreement, however, Martinez agreed to serve a federal prison term of 17 and a half years, followed by a lifetime term of supervised release during which he will be required to register as a sex offender, and his access to minors, computers, and the internet will be restricted. He also has agreed to forfeit items used in commission of the federal offense. At the sentencing hearing, Judge Wanger can either accept the plea agreement and impose the agreed-upon sentence, or he can reject the agreement.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC mobilizes federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information, 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.

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