California Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation of a Child, Distribution of Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of Minors, and Failure to Appear

Acting United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that Neal LaPointe, age 31, of Sacramento, California, appeared before U.S. District Judge Roberto A. Lange on September 28, 2015, and pled guilty to an Indictment that charged him with Sexual Exploitation of a Child, and Distribution of Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of Minors.  He also pled guilty to a separate Indictment charging him with Failure to Appear.      

The maximum penalty upon conviction is up to 60 years in custody and/or a $250,000 fine, life of supervised release, and $300 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.

The charges involving the Sexual Exploitation of a Child and Distribution of Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of Minors stem from incidents between March 1, 2012, and April 30, 2013.  During that timeframe, LaPointe was living in California, and under the guise of various aliases and online identities, would use computers, the internet, and the social networking site Facebook to solicit images of minors engaging in explicit sexual conduct, and would then distribute these images via computer and over the internet. Some of the minor victims lived on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation and elsewhere in South Dakota.

The Failure to Appear charge stems from an incident when the Court allowed LaPointe to be released, ordered him on electronic monitoring, and to reside with a third party on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation.  LaPointe failed to appear for his next court appearance on July 14, 2014, and his whereabouts were unknown until February 13, 2015, when he was apprehended in Miami, Florida.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, South Dakota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Rosebud Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, Rapid City Police Department, Sioux Falls Police Department, and the U.S. Marshals Service.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tim Maher and Sarah Collins are prosecuting the case.

A presentence investigation was ordered and a sentencing date has been set for December 21, 2015.  The defendant was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending sentencing.