New Mexico State Police Officer Arrested for Possession and Transportation of Child Pornography

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, announced today that Sammy Allen Clouthier, 44, of Carlsbad,  made an initial appearance in federal court on a criminal complaint charging him with possession of child pornography and transportation of child pornography.

According to the criminal complaint, on April 18, 2023, the FBI was made aware of a tip provided to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) on Dec. 29, 2022, by cloud service provider Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. Synchronoss provides content storage for the wireless communication service provider Verizon. Synchronoss reported images depicting apparent child sexual abuse material (CSAM) were uploaded to an account associated with Clouthier’s phone number and device. Follow-up investigation revealed that Clouthier, a sergeant in the New Mexico State Police, downloaded, possessed, and transported child pornography using his cellular devices.

A criminal complaint is only an allegation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Clothier faces a mandatory minimum of 5 years up to 20 years in prison.

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque Division Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force of the Federal Bureau Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Eliot Neal is prosecuting the case.