FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
June 14, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 2:09-0535 JAM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today that Sam I. Coburn, 34, and Matthew J. Coburn, 27, both of Roseville, pleaded guilty today to receipt and distribution of child pornography.

This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a federally and state funded task force managed by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department with agents from federal, state, and local agencies. ICAC investigates online child exploitation crimes, including child pornography, enticement, and sex trafficking. Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Reardon is prosecuting the case.

According to court documents, in early 2009, law enforcement identified computers at the defendants' home that were trading files of child pornography through an Internet file-sharing service. When law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at the defendants' home they found multiple computers with pictures and videos showing the sexual molestation of children. Several thousand image files and 573 video files of the sexual molestation of children were on a computer shared by the brothers. On a laptop owned by Sam, agents found 242 pictures and seven videos of child pornography that Sam had downloaded between March 2005 and December 2007. On two laptops owned by Matthew were 14 videos and over 1,900 pictures of child pornography that he downloaded between June 2006 and December 2007. Both defendants admitted at the time of the search that they searched the Internet for child pornography and downloaded it to their computers.

Sam and Matthew Coburn are set for sentencing by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez on August 30, 2011. They face a sentence of no less than five years and up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and a lifetime term of supervised release. The actual sentence, however, will 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.

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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