Albuquerque Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography Involving Two Toddlers

ALBUQUERQUE – Michael Dameon Blackburn, 30, of Albuquerque, N.M. pleaded guilty today in federal court to producing, distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography involving two toddlers.  Blackburn entered his guilty plea under a plea agreement that permits him to appeal from a court order denying his motion to suppress evidence.  Blackburn will be permitted to withdraw his guilty plea if he prevails on his appeal.

The guilty plea was announced U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, Special Agent in Charge Waldemar Rodriguez of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso, Tex., Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales, III, and Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden, Jr.

Blackburn was arrested in Dec. 2013, by HSI agents on the criminal complaint charging him with producing and distributing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in Bernalillo County, N.M., between March 2013 and Dec. 2013.  In Jan. 2014, a federal grand jury filed a five-count indictment charging Blackburn was distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography, and two counts of producing child pornography.  The indictment alleged that Blackburn committed all five offenses in Bernalillo County between Jan. 2013 and Dec. 2013.

The investigation leading to the charges against Blackburn began on Nov. 15, 2013, when HSI in Albuquerque received information from the HSI Cyber Crimes Center about a pornographic image of a young child victim who might be in the Albuquerque area.  HSI’s investigative efforts identified a residence in northeast Albuquerque as a possible location for the person who may have distributed the pornographic image of the young child victim. 

Court filings indicate that on Dec. 17, 2013, law enforcement officers conducted a welfare check at the residence and made contact with Blackburn and two young children, a girl and a boy both two years of age, who apparently were left in Blackburn’s care while their parents were out of town.  The officers learned that Blackburn had been sexually molesting the toddlers from at least March 2013 through Dec. 2013, and taking photographs and making videos of the toddlers while he molested them.  They also learned that Blackburn emailed the pornographic images and videos of the toddlers to others.  The two young victims were immediately removed from the residence and put into protective custody.

During today’s change of plea hearing, Blackburn pled guilty to all five counts of the indictment.  In his plea agreement, Blackburn admitted distributing a video of a female toddler being forced to perform a sexual act on an adult male.  He also admitted receiving a video of a male toddler being forced to perform a sexual act with an adult male, and possessing a pornographic image of a female toddler.  Blackburn also acknowledged producing pornographic images of a female toddler and a male toddler.

At sentencing, Blackburn faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison on each of the production of child pornography charges, and a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison for the distribution and receipt of child pornography charges.  He also faces up to 20 years in prison for the possession of child pornography charges. Additionally, Blackburn will be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence and pay restitution to the victims as ordered by the court. 

Blackburn has been in custody since his arrest and remains detained pending a sentencing hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

 This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of HSI, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and the Albuquerque Police Department, all members of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shammara H. Henderson and Marisa A. Lizarraga 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 Operation 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 82 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General.  Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.