U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Protecting national security by enforcing our nation's customs and immigration laws
Report suspicious activity 1-866-DHS-2-ICE
Quick Links
 |
ICE Recruiting |
 |
ICE Reports |
 |
News Releases
August 13, 2007
Shasta County man pleads guilty to producing and possessing child pornography, including graphic image of his underage daughter
SACRAMENTO - A Shasta County man is facing a 30-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to producing and possessing child pornography following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local authorities.
Travis Heffley, 29, entered his plea here in federal court this morning, admitting that his collection of more than 7,000 pictures and 355 videos of child pornography included a sexually explicit image he produced of his underage daughter.
ICE's investigation into Heffley began after the agency's Redding office received a lead from ICE investigators in New York. ICE received substantial assistance on the case from the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force, and the Redding Police Department.
Heffley acknowledged in his plea that he amassed his extensive child pornography collection by using a peer to peer software program called Limewire and purchasing a subscription to a website offering such pictures. The images included known pre-pubescent females engaged in activities such as oral sex and bondage.
As part of his plea agreement, Heffley agreed to jointly recommend to the court a prison sentence of 360 months. The defendant agreed to the sentence, in part, to resolve the federal case and related state criminal charges filed against him by the Shasta County District Attorney's Office for molesting his daughter. Heffley is scheduled to be formally sentenced October 29.
"Today's guilty plea marks another step forward in our efforts to protect our children from those who would prey on them for sexual purposes," said McGregor W. Scott, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California. "I am particularly pleased that we worked hand-in-hand with the Shasta County District Attorney's Office to ensure that Mr. Heffley will be in a place where he can't harm anymore children for decades to come."
The federal charges against Heffley are the result of Operation Predator, an ongoing ICE enforcement initiative to identify, investigate, arrest and, in the case of foreign nationals, deport child sex predators. Since the initiative began in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 10,000 individuals nationwide, including more than 2,300 in California.
-- ICE --
