Montana man sentenced to 5 years in federal prison for receiving child pornography

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – A Montana man was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison for receiving child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Michael W. Cotter, District of Montana.

This investigation was a cooperative effort between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Patrol Air Interdiction.

Felipe Jesus Parra-Flores, 46 – who resided in both Medicine Lake, Mont., and Nampa, Idaho – was sentenced to 60 months in prison and 15 years of supervised release. He will also forfeit the computers and hard drives he used to download, store and distribute child pornography.

Parra-Flores was sentenced Oct. 21 following his guilty plea to receiving child pornography.

In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee L. Peterson, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:

• In May 2012, as part of a Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) investigation, agents downloaded known child pornography files from an Internet Protocol (IP) address they determined was in Medicine Lake. The agents determined the same computer was also accessing the Internet from an address in Nampa, Idaho, (as well as Montana) from February through August 2012. Agents determined the common denominator between the two residences connected to those IP addresses was Parra-Flores.
• A search warrant for the IP subscriber’s Medicine Lake residence and Parra-Flores pickup truck was obtained. The IP subscriber was Parra-Flores’ employer.
• On Sept. 9, 2012, agents executed the search warrant. No one was at the residence. That afternoon, agents located Parra-Flores driving a semi-truck and trailer. Parra-Flores consented to the search of his truck. A laptop and external hard drives were located. Parra-Flores admitted they were his and signed a consent to search the items. Parra-Flores admitted there would be files depicting child pornography on his laptop, and that it was his child pornography.
• The forensic examiner located more than 1,000 files which depicted images and videos of child pornography on Parra-Flores’ laptop and hard drives. A file-sharing program (LimeZilla) was installed, and the examiner determined that some of the files depicting child pornography had been downloaded via the file-sharing program. The file creation date range was Aug. 2 through Sept. 6, 2012.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that Parra-Flores will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, Parra-Flores does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15 percent of the overall sentence.

This investigation was 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 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.

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.