Arizona Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Possession of Child Pornography

WASHINGTON – David Ralph Garcia Jr., 38, of Mesa, Ariz., was sentenced on Tuesday to 10 years in prison for possessing images of child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke for the District of Arizona.

Garcia pleaded guilty on Aug. 22, 2008, to one count of possession of child pornography. Garcia initially came to the attention of law enforcement after agents discovered his Internet protocol address offered child pornography for online download. As part of his guilty plea, Garcia admitted that he possessed six images of child pornography on a compact disc. According to public proceedings and filings in Maricopa County Superior Court, after Garcia pleaded guilty to the federal child pornography offense, Garcia was convicted under Arizona law of five counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of molestation of a child.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney James Silver of CEOS, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sharon Sexton and Vincent Kirby of the District of Arizona. The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the High Tech Investigative Unit of CEOS investigated the case.