Former Fresno-area teacher pleads guilty to producing child pornography
2nd child pornography defendant sentenced to 25 years
FRESNO, Calif. — A former Fresno-area teacher faces a sentence of nearly 40 years in prison after pleading guilty Monday to production of child pornography, following a probe by the Clovis Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Neng Yang, 46, of Clovis, who previously taught in the Clovis Unified School District, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. According to the plea agreement, Yang admitted using a computer device and electronic storage media to record and store videos depicting the sexual abuse of a minor under 12 years old on multiple occasions in January 2012. Yang was charged with four counts of producing child pornography and has been in federal custody since Jan. 27, 2012.
Yang is scheduled to be sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii June 2. The plea agreement proposes a sentence of 38 years, although the actual sentence will be determined at the discretion of the court at the hearing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian W. Enos is prosecuting the case.
"This office has established a national reputation for its prosecution of child predators and others who exploit children," said U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner. "One of the U.S. Department of Justice's strategic priorities is protecting the most vulnerable members of society; cases like these make clear why we take this mission so seriously."
Also Monday, a second local defendant charged in connection with an HSI child pornography probe received a sentence of 25 years in federal prison. Frank Charles Reddell, 39, of Madera, was previously convicted of receiving child pornography. Reddell was arrested in December 2012 after a California State Parole agent observed him sitting in his car in a parking lot viewing images of child pornography. When investigators searched Reddell's computer and a computer thumb drive belonging to him, they found many files containing child pornography. Reddell also had a 2004 conviction in the Tuolumne County Superior Court for lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor. Reddell pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography on December 2, 2013.
This case was the product of a probe by HSI Fresno, the Madera County Sheriff's Office, the Madera Police Department and the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian W. Enos is prosecuting the case.
"As these cases make abundantly clear, local and federal law enforcement are allied in the effort to protect children and combat the proliferation of child pornography," said Mike Prado, resident agent in charge for HSI Fresno. "The urgency of our mission cannot be understated, particularly in the cases highlighted today that involved local victims whose innocence was stolen by the defendants."
These cases are part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers.
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.
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