SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Monett, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for attempting to possess child pornography after secretly recording video with his cell phone camera of a minor taking a shower.

Jose J. Lazalde-Gonzalez, 30, a citizen of Mexico residing in Monett, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr to eight years in federal prison without parole.

On June 25, 2012, Lazalde-Gonzalez pleaded guilty to attempting to possess child pornography. Lazalde-Gonzalez was caught by his live-in girlfriend as he secretly recorded video on his cell phone camera of her 13-year-old daughter taking a shower. Lazalde-Gonzalez used a hole in a bedroom wall, which opened into a bathroom closet with the door removed, to give him a view of the bathroom. When his girlfriend caught him and called the police, Lazalde-Gonzalez admitted to them that he had watched the 13-year-old taking a shower on previous occasions.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall D. Eggert. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Monett, Mo., Police Department and the Joplin, Mo., Police Department.

Project Safe Childhood
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."

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