Montana Resident Pleads Guilty To Production Of Child Pornography In California

SAN FRANCISCO-  Douglas Pippert pleaded guilty today to production of child pornography announced Acting United States Attorney Alex G. Tse and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett.  The Honorable Vince Chhabria, U.S. District Judge, accepted the guilty plea.

According to his plea agreement, in March of 2016, Pippert, 48, formerly of Montana, used a minor to take part in sexually explicit conduct.  The minor was between 12 and 16 years old, and would often stay at Pippert’s California residence.  While at his residence, Pippert would engage in sexually explicit conduct with the minor while the minor was both conscious and unconscious.  Pippert made visual images of his sexual conduct with the minor and kept those images on numerous electronic devices.  He also admitted to possessing over 600 images and video of children, including minors younger than twelve years old, engaging in sexually explicit conduct.  

On November 2, 2017, a federal grand jury indicted Pippert, charging him with one count of production of child exploitation, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a), and one count of possession of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B).  Pursuant to today’s agreement, Pippert pleaded guilty to the production charge and the possession charge was dismissed.

Judge Chhabria scheduled a sentencing hearing for September 4, 2018, at 10:30 a.m. The minimum statutory sentence for violating 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) is 15 years of imprisonment and a term of supervised release upon release from prison for a minimum of 5 years.  The maximum statutory sentence is 30 years of imprisonment and a term of supervised release for the remainder of his life.  As part of any sentence, Judge Chhabria also may order Pippert to pay restitution and pay a fine of up to $250,000.  However, any sentence following conviction will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Assistant United States Attorneys Neal C. Hong and Meredith B. Osborn are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Kimberly Richardson.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and the Fort Bragg Police Department.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may also be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.