FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Docket #: 2:11-cr-00538 KJM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — United States District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller sentenced Eric Montane-Darab, 24, of Sacramento, today to one month in jail, to be followed by 14 months of home detention for sending obscene photographs to a minor, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. Montane-Darab was also sentenced to a three-year term of supervised release, to include drug and alcohol counseling, as well as mental health treatment. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a federally and state-funded task force managed by the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department with agents from federal, state, and local agencies. The Sacramento ICAC investigates 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 September 2010, Florida’s Santa Rosa County ICAC deputies identified Montane-Darab as the person who sent two obscene photographs through the Internet to a 13-year-old Florida girl. Along with the photograph were sexually explicit text messages between Montane-Darab and the victim. Several sexually explicit pictures of a second victim were found on Montane-Darab’s cellphone, along with sexually explicit chat messages and emails. He had also sent the second victim an explicit photograph and video of himself.

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. Click on the “resources” tab for information about Internet safety education.

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