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Press Release

Nurse/Home Healthcare Provider Arrested on Federal Child Pornography Charges

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE – A registered nurse employed by two home healthcare providers that provides mental health and medical care for children and adolescents has been charged with federal child pornography offenses.

John Jaramillo, 44, of Albuquerque, N.M., was arrested yesterday by special agents of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) on a criminal complaint charging him with receiving and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  Jaramillo made his initial appearance in federal court this morning and remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for April 28, 2014.
           
According to the criminal complaint, the investigation leading to Jaramillo’s arrest began in Nov. 2013, when a special agent with the New Mexico State Police identified an IP address that was being used to share files containing child pornography while conducting an investigation targeting those who share child pornography on peer-to-peer file sharing networks.  Subsequent investigation revealed that the IP address was subscribed to the address for Jaramillo’s residence in west side of Albuquerque.

The criminal complaint states that on April 24, 2014, HSI, the New Mexico State Police, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, and the Albuquerque Police Department, agencies that participate in the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, executed a federal search warrant at the residence and seized a computer and computer-related media allegedly used only by Jaramillo.  A preliminary forensic examination of the computer taken from a room identified as Jaramillo’s office allegedly recovered more than 250 images and videos consistent with child pornography.     
           
If convicted of the charges in the criminal complaint, Jaramillo faces a federal prison sentence of not less than five years and not more than 20 years.  If convicted, Jaramillo also would be required to register as a sex offender.  Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations and criminal defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case was investigated by the Sexual Predator Exploitation and Enforcement Detail (SPEED) of HSI in Albuquerque, the NMAGO and the Albuquerque Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob A. Wishard 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 64 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the NMAGO.  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