California Man Seeking Sex With Children Sentenced To 18 Years In Prison

BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced a former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department employee to 18 years in prison for attempted child enticement and distributing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Raymond R. Parmer Jr.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins sentenced MARK ROBIN RAINWATER, 46, for crimes connected to his October flight from California to Birmingham to have sex with two young boys. Rainwater pleaded guilty in January to one count of attempting to entice a child for sexual activity and one count of distributing child pornography. The judge ordered him to serve 20 years supervised release after completing his prison sentence.

"Our children deserve every measure of protection we can give them," Vance said. "We will use every tool we have to find and stop child predators from abusing and torturing children," she said.

"This case shows child sexual predators will be identified and investigated by HSI and its law enforcement partners, regardless of who they are or where they're located," Parmer said. "By coordinating federal, state and local law enforcement efforts, the Alabama Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce ensured this predator was promptly identified so he can no longer harm innocent children," he said.

Rainwater had worked 14 years in the information technology department of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department when, in August 2012, he began communicating via the Internet, e-mail, and instant and text messages with an undercover police officer, according to his plea agreement and other court documents. Rainwater believed he was communicating with a parent willing to allow Rainwater to have sex with his two young boys, ages 13 and 8.

Rainwater was arrested when he arrived at Birmingham's Shuttlesworth International Airport on Oct. 12. Court records show that his luggage contained sex toys and children's toys. Later searches of Rainwater's digital storage media and e-mail accounts revealed 242 videos and more than 4,477 images of child pornography, some of which involved babies, toddlers, and prepubescent children involved in sadomasochistic and lewd and lascivious behavior.

ICE-HSI and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigated this case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry Cornelius prosecuted it.