Prior Sex Offender from Taos Facing Federal Child Pornography Charges

ALBUQUERQUE – This morning a U.S. Magistrate Judge sitting in Albuquerque, N.M., found probable cause to support a criminal complaint charging Timothy J. Martin, 32, of Taos, N.M., with federal child pornography charges.  Martin was released pending trial to a halfway house and will be under pretrial supervision and other conditions of release.

Martin was arrested on July 29, 2016, on a criminal complaint alleging that he possessed, received and distributed visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit activity between Jan. 2016 and July 2016, in Taos County, N.M.  According to the criminal complaint, the investigation into Martin began in Sept. 2015, when Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents received a report identifying a shared network that was being used to share child pornography files.  On Jan. 3, 2016, investigators identified an IP address subscribed to Martin at Martin’s residential address that allegedly was being used to download child pornography files.  On July 28, 2016, a search warrant was executed at Martin’s residence, and law enforcement seized a laptop computer that allegedly was used to download and view child pornography. 

If convicted of receiving or distributing child pornography, Martin faces a statutory penalty of a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of life in prison.  If convicted of possessing child pornography, he faces a statutory penalty of a mandatory minimum of ten years and a maximum of 20 years in prison.  Martin faces these enhanced penalties because of his prior conviction on a sex-related offense.  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 Albuquerque office of HSI with assistance from the New Mexico State Police and the Taos Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathon M. Gerson is 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/.

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 82 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico 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.