Former Vice Principle of Lake Roosevelt Elementary School Sentenced to Seven Years in Federal Prison for Receipt of Child Pornography

Spokane– Joseph H. Harrington, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that Nathan Piturachsatit, age 38, of Grand Coulee, Washington, was sentenced today, after having previously pleaded guilty on November 29, 2016 to Receipt of Child Pornography. United States District Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. sentenced Piturachsatit to a seven- year term of imprisonment, to be followed by a ten-year term of court supervision after he is released from Federal prison. In addition, Piturachsatit agreed to forfeit to the United States the iPhone he used to request and receive child pornography images and videos. Upon release from prison, Piturachsatit will be required to register as a Sex Offender.

According to information disclosed during the court proceedings, in January of 2016, an officer of the Janesville Police Department in Janesville, Wisconsin responded to a report of a mother of a fourteen-year-old girl who had received a suspicious package. The package was determined to have been sent by Nathan Piturachsatit and was a shirt from “Pink”, a sister store to Victoria’s Secret. Further investigation revealed from November 2015, until early January 2016, Piturachsatit had been communicating with the fourteen-year-old girl over the Internet using “Instagram”. Piturachsatit had sent the minor child explicit naked images of himself and had asked for sexually explicit images and videos of the minor, who was a freshman in high school at the time of the crime. Piturachsatit’ s communication with the minor was graphic and sexually explicit. Piturachsatit not only requested child pornography from the minor, but also said he wanted to have sexual intercourse with the minor. With the assistance of agents from Homeland Security, a federal search warrant was obtained and executed on February 3, 2016 at Piturachsatit’ s place of employment, the Lake Roosevelt Elementary School where he was the Vice Principle, his residence, and vehicle in Grand Coulee, WA. Law enforcement officers discovered Piturachsatit had installed the application “Instagram” on his iPhone. During the execution of the search warrant, Piturachsatit confessed to sending the package to the minor and to also sending the minor clothed and unclothed images, as well as videos of him naked or masturbating. In addition, Piturachsatit confessed to requesting and receiving sexually explicit images and videos of the minor he had been communicating with via “Instagram”.

Joseph H. Harrington stated, “Prosecuting offenders who entice minors to produce child pornography and receive child pornography is a priority of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington. This Office is, and will continue to be, committed to prosecuting aggressively and seeking appropriate punishment for child pornography crimes.”

This case was pursued as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May, 2006 by the United States 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. The Project Safe Childhood Initiative (“PSC”) has five major components:

• Integrated federal, state, and local efforts to investigate and prosecute child exploitation cases, and to identify and rescue children;

• Participation of PSC partners in coordinated national initiatives;

• Increased federal enforcement in child pornography and enticement cases;

• Training of federal, state, and local law enforcement agents; and

• Community awareness and educational programs.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

This investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Mark Mischke and the Janesville Police Department in Janesville, Wisconsin. The case was prosecuted by Stephanie J. Lister, an Assistant United States Attorney and PSC Coordinator for the Eastern District of Washington.