Date: 03-27-2017

Case Style:

Case Number: 1:16-cr-00229-BLW

Judge: Winmill

Court: United States District Court for the District of Idaho (Ada County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Justin D Whatcott and Kevin T Maloney

Defendant's Attorney: Robert Kim Schwarz - FPD

Description: Boise, ID - Nampa Man Sentenced to 25 years for Sexual Exploitation of Children

Fernando Morales, 50, of Nampa was sentenced to 300 months in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for sexual exploitation of children.

According to the plea agreement, officers with the Nampa Police Department contacted Morales at his residence in Nampa on August 23, 2016, after a sixteen-year-old minor living at the residence called 911. The minor victim informed officers that Morales had sexual contact with the minor victim for several years and had nude images of the minor victim on his cell phone. During an interview with Nampa Police Detectives, Morales admitted that he had sexual contact with the minor victim on numerous occasions, beginning in approximately June of 2015 in El Paso, Texas. Morales, the victim, and two other children later moved to Nampa in July of 2016. Morales also admitted that he recorded videos and pictures of himself and the minor victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and that he saved the videos and pictures on his cell phone.

Nampa Police Detectives seized several electronic devices from Morales. A Computer Forensic Agent with the Department of Homeland Security analyzed the devices, and discovered twenty-three videos and twenty-one still images of the minor victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Nineteen of the videos and all of the still images depicted Morales engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the victim. Two of the videos and nine of the still images contained data showing they were produced in the State of Texas, then transported to the State of Idaho.

“This prison sentence ensures that Morales will never again be a threat to children,” said Gonzalez. His conduct caused unimaginable harm to this child victim. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, along with our local, state and federal partners, will vigorously prosecute those who harm the children of this community.”

“Innocent children continue to be re-victimized with every view of a sexually explicit image or video,” said Brad Bench, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations Seattle. “HSI and local law enforcement strive to assist traumatized youth by dedicating every resource available to ensure child predators are held accountable for their deeds.”

The case was investigated by the Nampa Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security, with assistance from the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office, and was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

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