FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
April 15, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:10-cr-00428 LJO

FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Anthony Bernard Ellrodt, 38, of Bakersfield, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill to 11 years in prison, to be followed by 25 years of supervised release for possessing child pornography. Ellrodt also will be required to register as a sex offender.

This case was the result of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in response to a CyberTipline referral from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). Assistant United States Attorney David Gappa prosecuted the case.

According to a criminal complaint filed in this case, NCMEC notified the Bakersfield HSI office that a single image of what was believed to be child pornography was uploaded to a file-sharing website from an Internet address registered to Ellrodt. HSI agents seized his computer and other evidence, and a forensic review revealed that Ellrodt had possessed approximately 423 images of child pornography. Ellrodt admitted in his plea agreement that some of the images were of prepubescent minors, some depicted violence, and that he had obtained all of them through the Internet. Ellrodt had been convicted on September 13, 1994, in Harvey County Kansas for aggravated indecent liberties with a child, for which he was sentenced to a 32-month prison term.

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.

####

 

Return to Top