Las Cruces Man Sentenced to 25 Years for Production of Child Pornography

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Francisco B. Burrola, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations El Paso, announced today that Sean Patrick Fosler was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Fosler, 30, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, pleaded guilty on April 28, 2022 to production of child pornography. Upon his release from prison, Fosler will be subject to 5 years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender.

According to the plea agreement and other court records, on Dec. 2, 2021, a confidential source notified HSI that Fosler had live-streamed an incident of sexually explicit conduct with a then eight-year-old child through Snapchat. During the investigation, HSI agents located two Snapchat accounts belonging to Fosler, each containing numerous images of child pornography produced by Fosler with the victim starting as early as when she was six or seven years old. Fosler told the victim to not tell anyone because otherwise he would go to jail.

“HSI special agents remain committed to work tirelessly to protect innocent children victimized by those who engage in such heinous and perverse actions,” said Francisco B. Burrola, Special Agent in Charge for HSI El Paso. “This case was a great example of multiple agencies in our region collaborating to bring justice for a minor victim, and we will stop at nothing to put an end to child victimization.”

"Those who use minors for their own sexual gratification are selfish and cowardly,” said U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez. “Those who then capture and share those darkest moments of a child-victim’s life infinitely compound the harm. I’m proud to partner with Homeland Security Investigations, New Mexico State Police, and the El Paso Police Department to support healing and closure for the victim and their loved ones.”

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated this case with assistance from the New Mexico State Police and the El Paso Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Marisa A. Ong and R. Eliot Neal are prosecuting 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/.

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