Tacoma man sentenced to 28 years in prison for production and possession of images of child rape and abuse

Tacoma – A 40-year-old Tacoma resident was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to twenty-eight years in prison and a lifetime of supervision for producing and possessing images of child sexual abuse, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. A 2018 investigation revealed that Lamar Allen Thompson, who was on state supervision as a sex offender for a 2016 conviction for molesting two minor children, filmed his molestation of two different minor children. Washington State Department of Corrections Officers arrested Thompson on November 8, 2018. Thompson has been in state or federal custody ever since. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said that the crimes were “cruel and merciless.”

“This is a lengthy sentence, but necessary in this case to protect the community from an offender who would not be deterred,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Gorman. “Despite a prior prison sentence, despite state supervision and registration as a sex offender, Mr. Thompson preyed on the trust of friends and family to horribly harm additional children.”

According to records filed in the case, Thompson’s creation of images of child sexual abuse came to light when he lost his phone at a Tacoma manufacturing plant where he worked. In an effort to locate the phone’s owner, co-workers saw pictures of child sexual abuse and alerted law enforcement. Law enforcement obtained a warrant to review the phone, determined it belonged to Thompson, and discovered he had filmed his abuse of multiple children.

Following his arrest on federal charges, Thompson asked for multiple trial delays and then pleaded guilty in March 2023, on the morning his trial was supposed to begin.

In asking for a 45-year sentence, Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Hampton wrote to the court, “Lamar Thompson committed unspeakable acts of violence against innocent children. Thompson’s depraved and selfish acts were an attack on those children’s psyches. They, not Thompson, will bear the heavy psychological load that all survivors of child sexual abuse must carry. And they will do so for the remainder of their lives…. These children and their families, not Thompson, will ultimately pay the price for Thompson’s selfishness and cruelty. It therefore falls to this Court to speak for the community and state in no uncertain terms that those who commit acts of sexual abuse against the most vulnerable among us cannot escape justice.” 

“Today’s significant sentence reflects the horrific nature of continued child victimization by a repeat sex offender, even after prior registration and conviction,” said Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Robert Hammer, who oversees HSI operations in the Pacific Northwest. “HSI is committed to protecting children from predators and encourages the reporting of suspicious behavior to law enforcement.”

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations with assistance from the Tacoma Police Department and the Washington State Department of Corrections.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew Hampton and Zachary Dillon.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 www.justice.gov/psc.