Oakland Man Convicted of Producing and Possessing Child Pornography

OAKLAND, CA—Edward Lee Sullivan, of Oakland, was convicted on Feb. 25, 2011, of one count of producing and one count of possessing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag and Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Department of Justice Criminal Division.

Sullivan, 38, was found guilty by U.S. District Court Judge D. Lowell Jensen of the Northern District of California after a bench trial.

Evidence presented at trial showed that during a two-week period in March 2008, Sullivan trained a 14-year-old girl to work for him as a child prostitute. During the course of those two weeks, Sullivan produced numerous photographs and videos of the minor, which documented the steps Sullivan took to prepare the 14-year-old to work as a prostitute. According to trial evidence, Sullivan filmed at least one pornographic video of the minor, which depicted Sullivan instructing the minor as she performed oral sex on him. Evidence at trial established that Sullivan uploaded at least one photograph to the Internet as part of a sexually explicit posting on an adult dating website.

Sullivan was indicted by a federal grand jury on Feb. 18, 2009. He remains in custody pending sentencing, which is scheduled for June 10, 2011, before Judge Jensen in Oakland. Sullivan faces a maximum sentence of up to life in prison and a fine of $250,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew S. Huang and Maureen C. Bessette of the Northern District of California and Trial Attorney Alecia Riewerts Wolak of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). The investigation was conducted by the FBI, the Berkeley Police Department and the Oakland Police Department.

Further Information:

Case #:CR 09-00167 DLJ