FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
January 9, 2012	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:11-cr-00224-LJO

            FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that today Armando E. Huizar, 26, of Armona, pleaded guilty to receipt or distribution of a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The guilty plea was entered before United States District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill.

            According to the plea agreement, Huizar received more than 600 images and videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The images and videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct also involved the portrayal of sadistic, masochistic, and other depictions of violence. Huizar received the child pornography on his computer, and many of the minors depicted were prepubescent minors.

            Huizar is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill on April 2, 2012. Huizar faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release.

            This case is the result of Operation Direct Connect, an extensive series of investigations by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, specifically the Fresno U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HIS), the King’s County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office, the Madera County Sheriff’s Office, and the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy R. Jehangiri is prosecuting the case.

            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.govor 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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