Sacramento County Man Indicted on Child Pornography Charges

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced today that a federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment charging JOHN PAUL TOELLE, 51, of Carmichael, with receiving and possessing child pornography.

This case is the product of a investigation by the FBI and the Sacramento Valley High Tech Crimes Task Force.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Laurel D. White, who is prosecuting the case, the indictment alleges that in March 2007, TOELLE possessed a computer hard drive that contained visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. I further alleges that on January 14, 2007, TOELLE received on his computer a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The government is also seeking forfeiture of the computer and the hard drives used by TOELLE to receive and maintain his collection of child pornography.

The investigation in this case was undertaken as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC). PSC is a United States Department of Justice initiative established to increase federal prosecutions of violent sexual predators of children and to reduce the number of Internet crimes against children including child pornography trafficking. As a part of PSC, the United States Attorney’s Office has teamed with state and local agencies and organizations to increase law enforcement presence on the Internet, and to educate the public about safe Internet use, thereby reducing the risk that children might fall prey to online sexual predators. For additional information on the PSC initiative, please go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov or call the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California and ask to speak with the PSC coordinator.

The maximum statutory penalty for possession of child pornography is 10 years in prison. The receipt of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct carries a five-year mandatory minimum to a 20-year maximum term. The actual sentence, however, will be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and will be imposed at the discretion of the court.

The charges are only allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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