Fresno-area man sentenced to 9 years in prison for receiving child pornography

FRESNO, Calif. – A Fresno-area man who was found to have more than 900,000 images of child pornography on his computer was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison, following a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Clovis Police Department.

Samuel Joseph Gueydan, 49, of Clovis, appeared before U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii. Gueydan pleaded guilty July 8 to receiving child pornography and was remanded into custody on that date. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian W. Enos prosecuted the case.

According to court documents, from approximately March 2007 through October 2012, Gueydan received and stored hundreds of thousands of sexually explicit depictions of minors, including many involving pre-pubescent victims and depicting sado-masochistic conduct.

"The sheer volume of child pornography this defendant possessed make it clear he harbored a dangerous sexual interest in children and posed a threat to the community," said Mike Prado, resident agent in charge for HSI Fresno. "This lengthy prison term will prevent him from preying on children and continuing to perpetuate the cycle of victimization that occurs when child pornography is downloaded from the Internet."

This case was brought as part of Operation Predator, an ongoing HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, and Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 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, 1-800-843-5678.

Led by the United States 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the "resources" tab for information about Internet safety education.