Farmington Woman Sentenced to 13 Years for Distributing Child Pornography

ALBUQUERQUE – Tristalyn Valencia, 30, of Farmington, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Santa Fe, N.M., to 13 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for her conviction on a distribution of child pornography charge.  Valencia will be required to register as a sex offender upon her release from prison.

The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, 11^th Judicial District Attorney Robert P. “Rick” Tedrow, Special Agent in Charge Waldemar Rodriguez of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso, Tex., and San Juan County Sheriff Ken Christesen.

Valencia was arrested on Dec. 24, 2015, on an indictment charging her with nine counts of producing visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  According to the indictment, Valencia committed the crimes between May 2012 and Aug. 2012 in San Juan County, N.M. 

On April 13, 2016, Valencia pled guilty to a felony information charging her with distribution of child pornography.  In entering the guilty plea, Valencia admitted that from June 1, 2012 through June 30, 2012, she distributed nine images containing child pornography.  Each image depicted the same victim, who was under the age of 12 years, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  Some of the images depicted the victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct with an adult male.

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque and Phoenix offices of HSI and the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the 11^th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Farmington. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mease prosecuted the case 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/.