October 6, 2008

Puerto Rican man sentenced to 20 years in prison for possession and production of child porn

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico-A 47-year-old man was sentenced in District Court here Friday to 20 years in federal prison for possession and production of child pornography following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation

Carlos Martinez, who worked as a janitor at the Notre Dame private school in Caguas, Puerto Rico, was arrested on Nov. 20, 2007 by ICE special agents after a forensic analysis of the electronic equipment seized during a search warrant revealed thousands of images depicting child pornography to include content created by Martinez at his residence.

The ICE investigation that led to Martinez's arrest, guilty plea and subsequent 20-year in prison followed by a lifetime term of supervised release sentence stemmed from a referral from the ICE Cyber Crimes Center.

"All children have an absolute right to grow up free from the fear of sexual exploitation," said Manuel Oyola Torres, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in San Juan. "ICE relentlessly pursues predators who sexually abuse children, whether that abuse is physical in nature or if it's accomplished by exploiting their images. The sentencing of this man sends a strong message that ICE will not tolerate this despicable crime. Our agents will continue to police cyber space to investigate and bring to justice those individuals who exploit the most vulnerable segment of our society- our children"

Assistant US Attorney Jennifer Hernandez prosecuted this case.

The arrest of Carlos M. Martinez was part of a nationwide initiative known as Operation Predator. Operation Predator protects our children from sexual predators, including those who travel across continents to have sex with minors. Internet child pornographers and criminal alien sex offenders and child traffickers are also a priority for ICE. Since the initiative was launched in July of 2003, there have been more than 11,500 individuals arrested nationwide.

ICE encourages anyone who wants to report suspicious activity of suspected child predators and suspicious activity through our toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. Investigators staff this hotline around the clock.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http:/www.cybertipline.com.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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