Former NM nurse, home healthcare provider pleads guilty to child porn charges

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A local man, who was a nurse and healthcare provider for children, entered a guilty plea Sept. 22 to federal child pornography charges.

This guilty plea resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

John Jaramillo, 45, of Albuquerque, was arrested April 24 by HSI special agents on a criminal complaint charging him with receiving and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. At the time of his arrest, Jaramillo was a registered nurse employed by two home healthcare providers that provide mental health and medical care for children and adolescents.

On May 21, Jaramillo was indicted and charged with receiving and possessing child pornography. The indictment alleged that Jaramillo received and possessed child pornography from June 2013 to March 2014 in Bernalillo County, New Mexico.

According to court filings, the investigation leading to Jaramillo's arrest began in November 2013 when a New Mexico State Police agent identified an IP address being used to share child pornography. The agent was conducting an investigation targeting individuals who share child pornography on peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Subsequent investigation revealed that the IP address was subscribed to Jaramillo's residence in Albuquerque.

On April 24, agents and officers with HSI, the New Mexico State Police, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office, and the Albuquerque Police Department, executed a federal search warrant at the residence and seized Jaramillo's computer and computer-related media. A forensic examination of Jaramillo's computer recovered images and videos consistent with child pornography.

Jaramillo has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled. At sentencing, Jaramillo faces a maximum 20-year federal prison sentence. He also will be required to register as a sex offender.

This case was investigated by the Sexual Predator Exploitation and Enforcement Detail (SPEED) of which HSI Albuquerque, New Mexico State Police, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office and the Albuquerque Police Department are members.

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 producing and distributing online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking children. In fiscal year 2013, HSI agents arrested more than 2,000 individuals 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.