District man sentenced to more than 11 years on child pornography, sexual abuse charges

WASHINGTON — A 22-year-old Washington, D.C., man was sentenced Monday to 11 years and three months in prison on child pornography and sexual abuse charges. The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Metropolitan Police Department.

Cristian Gutierrez pleaded guilty in June 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of possession of child pornography and two counts of second-degree child sexual abuse. Upon completion of his prison term, Gutierrez will be placed on 15 years of supervised release. During his supervised release, Gutierrez is subject to limitations on computer and Internet use and restrictions on contact with minors. He also must undergo sex offender testing and treatment and register for at least 25 years as a sex offender.

According to the government's evidence, a law enforcement investigation determined between May and August 2013, Gutierrez received and possessed child pornography on his personal laptop computer and other electronic storage devices at his residence. On various dates during that time-frame, he downloaded numerous images and videos depicting child pornography to his computer using a peer-to-peer file sharing program and made those files available for downloading by other users of the program.

On Aug. 16, 2013, pursuant to a warrant, law enforcement searched the defendant's residence. They located more than 700 videos and more than 100 images depicting child pornography on the laptop and other electronic storage devices. Gutierrez initially denied possessing child pornography, but eventually admitted he downloaded the child pornography files on the laptop computer.

The search led to evidence of the defendant's other conduct. An investigation revealed that between April and August 2013, on at least five occasions, Gutierrez sexually abused two 12-year-old boys.

This investigation was conducted under HSI's Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 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 2013, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

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

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.