Prior Sex Offender from Taos Sentenced to Five Years for Federal Child Pornography Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE –Timothy J. Martin, 33, of Taos, N.M., was sentenced this morning in federal court in Santa Fe, N.M., to 60 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for his child pornography conviction.  Martin will be required to register as a sex offender after completing his prison sentence.

Martin, who has a prior child pornography conviction, was prosecuted under a federal anti-violence initiative that targets “the worst of the worst” offenders for federal prosecution.  Under this initiative, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal law enforcement agencies work with New Mexico’s District Attorneys and state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to target violent or repeat offenders primarily based on their prior criminal convictions for federal prosecution with the goal of removing repeat offenders from communities in New Mexico for as long as possible.

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 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 was being used to download child pornography files.  On July 28, 2016, law enforcement authorities seized a laptop computer that contained child pornography while executing a search warrant at Martin’s residence. 

Martin subsequently was charged in a two-count indictment filed on Aug. 23, 2016, with receiving child pornography on Jan. 3, 2016, and possessing child pornography from July 23, 2015 through July 28, 2016.  According to the indictment, Martin committed the crimes in Taos County.

On Oct. 31, 2017, Martin pled guilty to receiving child pornography.  In entering the guilty plea, Martin admitted that on Jan. 3, 2016, he downloaded a video depicting child pornography from the internet onto his laptop computer.

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 Jeremy Pena 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 86 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.