FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
September 20, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 2:09-CR-535 JAM

            SACRAMENTO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today that Sam I. Coburn, 34, and Matthew J. Coburn, 27, both of Roseville, were sentenced today by United States District Judge John A. Mendez to five years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. They will also be required to register as sex offenders. On June 14, 2011, the defendants pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography.

            This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The Sacramento ICAC is a federally and state-funded task force managed by the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department composed of agents from federal, state, and local agencies. The purpose of the Sacramento ICAC is to investigate online child exploitation crimes, including child pornography, enticement, and sex trafficking. Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Reardon prosecuted 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 more than 1,900 pictures of child pornography that he downloaded between June 2006 and December 2007. Both defendants admitted that they searched the Internet for child pornography and downloaded it to their computers.

            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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