Claremore Man Convicted of Sexually Exploiting a Child

A Claremore man entered a guilty plea on Tuesday to sexual exploitation of a child, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.

Zachary Newberry, 25, admitted that he coerced the minor victim into performing sexual acts with him and recorded the encounter on his cell phone.

On July 30, the Tulsa Police Department received Newberry’s phone in an anonymous package, which was accompanied by a note stating the phone contained child pornography. Detectives from the police department’s Cyber Crimes Unit forensically examined the phone and discovered that it had been used to film a single video of child pornography. Other information recovered from the phone led detectives to Newberry, who eventually confessed to filming himself sexually abusing the adolescent victim.

"Newberry’s heinous crimes involving the exploitation of a child were discovered because someone sent to law enforcement a package containing his cell phone. Inside the package, this anonymous tipster left a note that child pornography would be found on the phone. I don’t know the identity of the tipster, but I thank him or her for helping us. The anonymous package was vital in bringing Newberry’s despicable, criminal offenses to light,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. “We as a society must band together to stop the proliferation of child pornography. We must stop those creating and supplying it, as well as those who sickeningly demand it. Tulsa’s Cyber Crimes detectives are at the forefront of this battle. They deftly take up the charge to locate and apprehend these perpetrators. The Tulsa Police Department acted swiftly and with urgency to track down this perpetrator. Their efforts also resulted in our identifying and rescuing a child victim from further sexual abuse.”

U.S. District Judge John E. Dowdell set Newberry’s sentencing for Feb. 25, 2019.  Newberry faces a minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison along with a $250,000 fine.

The Tulsa Police Department investigated the crime. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Nassar prosecuted 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 United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.