Boise-area man pleads guilty to child exploitation charges

BOISE, Idaho – A Nampa man pleaded guilty Jan. 4 to federal child exploitation charges, following an extensive investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Fernando Morales, 50, was initially contacted Aug. 23 at his residence by the Nampa Police Department after a 16-year-old called 911. According to the plea agreement, the minor informed officers that Morales had sexual contact with her for several years and that his cell phone contained nude images of her.

Morales admitted to having sex with the minor victim on numerous occasions, beginning around June 2015 in El Paso, Texas, and to saving photos and video recordings of their sexually explicit conduct on his cell phone.

Several electronic devices belonging to Morales were seized by Nampa Police detectives and analyzed by an HSI computer forensic agent who discovered 23 videos and 21 still images of the minor victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct. All of the photographs and 19 of the videos included Morales engaged in the acts.

Morales, the victim and two other children moved to Nampa last July and multiple video and still images of the child exploitation contained data showing they were produced in Texas and transported to Idaho.

Morales’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 27 before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill. He faces a minimum 15 years imprisonment, $250,000 fine and not less than five years supervised release.

The case was investigated in cooperation with the Nampa Police Department and the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office.

The charges in this case are a product of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators.

Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 14,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2015, nearly 2,400 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.