ICE Homeland Security Investigations yields child pornography producer 25-year prison sentence

OAKLAND, Calif. – Daniel Joseph Feliciano received a 25-year prison sentence for producing child pornography. The punishment was the result of a joint investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office and the Pleasant Hill Police Department.

Feliciano, 30, of Pleasant Hill, admitted he recorded a video of a 9-year-old minor in a sexually explicit act and produced lewd sexually explicit image of a 5-year-old. Feliciano knew the two victims were minors and created the images using his cell phone.

Feliciano also possessed approximately 205 images or videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The government filed additional papers arguing that Feliciano possessed more than 21,000 images of child pornography, including images of sexual abuse of a toddler-aged child and other children younger than 7 years old.

U.S. Attorney David L. Anderson and HSI Special Agent in Charge King announced the sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge the Honorable Jeffrey S. White, June 30.

A federal grand jury indicted Feliciano on Dec. 19, 2019, charging him with two counts of producing and possessing child pornography. Feliciano pleaded guilty to both counts.

In addition to the prison term, Judge White sentenced the defendant to 10-years of supervised release. This prosecution arose from a Cybertip received Oct. 4, 2019, to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) related to the discovery of potential exploitation material being stored in a cloud storage account later traced to Feliciano. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan U. Lee prosecuted the case with the assistance of Jessica Rodriguez Gonzalez, Kay Konopaske, and Kathleen Turner.

“The successful rescue of these minors from sexual abuse and the eventual sentence handed down by the United States District Court came as a direct result of the dedicated work by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in conjunction with our federal partners at Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Attorney’s Office,” said Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office Inspector Darryl Holcombe. “As with all investigations of sexual abuse, our primary concern is the health and wellbeing of the victims and their families. We will continue to work with the victims in this case to provide whatever support is necessary to help them to recover from these traumatic experiences.”

“We encourage parents to talk with their children about the potentials dangers of smartphone use and social media and to report any instances of online child exploitation to their local law enforcement agency. For more information on how parents can protect their children online, please visit svicac.org,” Holcombe added.

Homeland Security Investigations

HSI takes a victim-centered approach to its child exploitation investigations by working to identify, rescue and stabilize victims. In fiscal year 2019, HSI nationally made nearly 4,000 child exploitation arrests, resulting in more than 1,750 convictions.

HSI works in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and other federal, state, and local agencies to help solve cases and rescue sexually exploited children. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to NCMEC at missingkids.org/gethelpnow/cybertipline or via the toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.