Jaime Almazan, age 46, from Storm Lake, Iowa, has been charged with sexual exploitation of a child. The charges are contained in an Indictment unsealed February 24, 2012, in United States District Court in Sioux City.

The Indictment alleges that, between July and October 2011, Almazan used, persuaded, induced, and enticed a minor under the age of 18 to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct.

If convicted, Almazan faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and at least 5 years and up to life on supervised release following any imprisonment.

Almazan appeared on March 19, 2012, in federal court in Sioux City and was held without bond. Almazan’s next appearance for trial is set for May 7, 2012.

As with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Storm Lake Police Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 12-4021.

 

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