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Press Release

Roswell Man Pleads Guilty to Carrying a Firearm in Relation to a Drug Trafficking Crime

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

ALBUQUERQUE – Richard D. Crisman, 28, of Rio Rancho, N.M., was sentenced today to 97 months in federal prison followed by 25 years of supervised release for his conviction for receipt of child pornography.  Crisman also was ordered to pay a $15,000.00 fine.  He will be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence.  Crisman’s sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales and Special Agent in Charge Dennis A. Ulrich, II, of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso.

           Crisman was arrested in Sept. 2011 as part of Operation Predator, an investigative effort by federal, state and local law enforcement affiliates of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force aimed at identifying individuals throughout New Mexico involved in the distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography through peer-to-peer file sharing programs.  Twenty-two search warrants were executed and eight defendants were arrested in Sept. 2010 as a result of Operation Predator.  All eight defendants have been convicted of child pornography offenses and are serving prison sentences.

            Crisman was charged with three counts of receipt of a visual depiction of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and three counts of possession of a matter containing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  In Feb. 2012, Crisman pleaded guilty to Count 2 of the indictment, a receipt of child pornography charge.

            According to court records, Crisman was arrested as a result of an undercover investigation that revealed that Crisman received and possessed child pornography images through a peer-to-peer file sharing program in Nov. 2009, Feb. 2010, April 2010, June 2010 and July 2010.  As a result of the investigation, in Sept 2010, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Crisman’s residence and seized computers and computer-related media that contained evidence of child pornography.  While the search warrant was executed, Crisman voluntarily participated in a recorded interview during which he admitted using his computers to view child pornography.

            Crisman has acknowledged that a forensic examination of his computers and computer-related media uncovered more than 14,000 images and 40 videos of child pornography.  He also has acknowledged that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children determined that the child pornography images and videos found on his computers and computer-related media included 1,884 child pornography images of more than 100 children who have been identified as child pornography victims and have been rescued, and nine child pornography videos of five children who have been identified as child pornography victims and have been rescued.

            As required by Crisman’s plea agreement, Counts 1, 3 and 4 through 6 of the indictment were dismissed after Crisman was sentenced.

            The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlyn E. Rees, and was investigated by HSI New Mexico, the New Mexico State Police, the New Mexico Regional Computer Forensic Lab and other agencies that participate in the New Mexico ICAC Task Force.   The law enforcement agencies that participated in Operation Predator include:  Albuquerque Police Department, Farmington Police Department, FBI, HSI, Las Cruces Police Department, New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, New Mexico State Police, Rio Rancho Police Department, Santa Fe Police Department, the United States Marshal’s Office in Las Cruces, the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office, and the Eighth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

            The case was brought 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 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 New Mexico Attorney General’s Office.  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