East Idaho man pleads guilty to producing child pornography

POCATELLO, Idaho – A Rupert-area man pleaded guilty Aug. 24 to sexual exploitation of a child, following an extensive investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Erik Rodriguez, 25, admitted to possessing and producing child pornography at his residence in Rupert, Idaho. Rodriguez’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 8 before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill.

According to the plea agreement, HSI special agents, working with the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), downloaded a sexually exploitative video of a minor from an individual later identified as Rodriguez in April 2015. A search of Rodriguez’s home revealed numerous computers and electronic devices being used to view and store child pornography. In total, agents found approximately 133 images and 302 videos of child sexual abuse material on the defendant’s devices, in addition to sexually explicit images he produced of a girl under the age of 10.

The case was investigated in coordination with the Minidoka County Sheriff’s Office and the Idaho ICAC Task Force.

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.