Press Release
Albuquerque Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Pornography Charge
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE – Curtis Caylor, 60, of Albuquerque, N.M., pleaded guilty this morning to receipt of a visual depiction of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Caylor was arrested on Dec. 20, 2012, based on an indictment charging him with three counts of receipt of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography. The indictment alleged that Caylor received child pornography on three occasions in Sept. 2011 and that he possessed child pornography in Jan. 2012, in Bernalillo County.
During today’s proceedings, Caylor entered a guilty plea to Count 2 of the indictment charging him with receipt of child pornography. In his plea agreement, Caylor acknowledged that investigators with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (New Mexico ICAC Task Force) executed a search warrant at his residence on Jan. 12, 2012 and seized computers and computer-related media. The search warrant was issued based on an undercover investigation by the New Mexico State Police that began in June 2011, and targeted individuals who possessed, received and distributed child pornography. The investigation revealed that an IP Address which was subscribed to Caylor’s residence was being used to download child pornography images and videos through a peer-to-peer file-sharing program.
Caylor also acknowledged that a forensic examination of his computers and computer-related media by HSI and the New Mexico Regional Computer Forensic Lab revealed thousands of images and videos consistent with child pornography. Caylor also acknowledged that HSI sent more than 1000 of these images and 600 of those videos to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the NCMEC has issued a preliminary report indicating they include 154 videos of 48 children who have been identified as child pornography victims and have been rescued.
At sentencing, Caylor faces a prison sentence of not less than five years and not more than 20 years. He also will be required to register as a sex offender. Caylor remains in federal custody pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Caylor will forfeit his computers and computer-related media.
This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of HSI, the Online Predator Unit of the NMSP, the New Mexico Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory and other members of the New Mexico ICAC Task Force. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlyn E. Rees as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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 http://www.justice.gov/psc/.
The case also was brought as a part of the New Mexico ICAC Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico. There are 64 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office. Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.
Updated January 26, 2015
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