FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
February 16, 2012	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:11-cr-00324-AWI

FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that a grand jury charged Shawn Joseph McCormack, 28, of Black Forest, Colo., today with three additional counts in a superseding indictment for the sexual exploitation of a minor–production of child pornography.

On September 29, 2011, McCormack was charged in a one-count indictment for a March 28, 2008 incident of producing child pornography. The superseding indictment adds one more count of production of child pornography with the same victim and two more counts of production of child pornography with a second minor victim also in Kern County.

McCormack is in federal custody, and he is scheduled to appear before the United States Magistrate Judge Sheila K. Oberto at 1:30 p.m., Friday, February 17, 2012.

Each count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a lifetime term of supervised release. If convicted, the actual sentence will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges in the superseding indictment are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case is the result of an extensive investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations in Bakersfield, Colorado Springs, Colo., and Boston, and the police departments in Bakersfield and Colorado Springs. Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy R. Jehangiri is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please 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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