Idaho Falls Man Pleads Guilty To Possessing Child Pornography

POCATELLO — Daniel Joseph Dalton, 38, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court to possessing sexually explicit images of minors, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Dalton was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pocatello on July 23, 2013.

According to court records, over 300 video files of suspected child pornography were discovered on a desktop computer owned and used by Dalton after Dalton left the computer at a local computer repair shop. When interviewed by a Bonneville County Sheriff’s detective, Dalton admitted to downloading sexually explicit images of children using Limewire peer-to-peer file sharing software. Dalton also admitted that police would find child pornography on an external hard drive at his residence.

The charge of possession of sexually explicit images of minors is punishable by up to ten years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and five years to lifetime supervised release.

Sentencing is set for April 22, 2014, before U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office.

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 individuals 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.”