Idaho Falls Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation of Minor Child

POCATELLO - Justin Dixson, 42, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, pleaded guilty yesterday to sexual exploitation of a minor child, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.  Dixson was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pocatello on May 27, 2015.

According to the plea agreement, Dixson admitted that between July 2014, and February 2015, law enforcement agents were able to download 27 files of child pornography from his computer.  Additional images of child pornography were located on Dixson’s computer hardware when his residence was searched pursuant to a search warrant in April 2015.  Among those images were images of a minor child being sexually abused by Dixson, and Dixson admitted to taking pictures of the abuse.  In total, law enforcement discovered approximately 1,712 suspected images and videos of child pornography on the defendant’s computer.  The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported that of these, 438 images and 29 videos depicted children previously identified to law enforcement as victims of sexual abuse and exploitation.

The charge of sexual exploitation of a minor child is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000.00, and up to life supervised release.

Sentencing is set for March 2, 2016, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

The case was investigated by Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), Idaho Falls Police, U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Marshals Service (USMS).

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.”