FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Friday, July 13, 2012
Docket #: 1:12-cr-211-LJO-SKO

FRESNO, Calif. — Fresno resident Lance Howard Mayes, 42, was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury charging him with receiving images involving the sexual exploitation of a minor between March 2011 and November 2011, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. He was arrested yesterday and was arraigned today in Fresno. Maynes was release on his own recognizance, and his next court date is August 20, 2012.

This case is product of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and Clovis Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Stanley A. Boone is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

If convicted, Mayes faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, if convicted, 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 are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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