Colombian National Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison on Child Pornography Charge

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Wednesday sentenced a man from Colombia to nine years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Fabio Murillo Sanchez, 51, pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of possession of child pornography. He admitted that in 2023, a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department detective downloaded child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from an IP address in St. Louis via the BitTorrent peer-to-peer network. Investigators traced the IP address to Sanchez’ home. When they interviewed Sanchez, he admitted possessing CSAM and turned over three computer devices. He also said he’d been looking at CSAM since 2009.

The FBI found 686 videos and 1,392 images containing CSAM and over 19,000 images of "child erotica and nude child modeling," his plea agreement says.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.justice.gov/psc.