New Mexico woman sentenced to 13 years for distributing child pornography

SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico woman was sentenced Thursday to 13 years in federal prison and five years of supervised release for distributing child pornography.

Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated this case.

Tristalyn Valencia, 30, from Farmington, New Mexico, must also register as a sex offender after she's released from prison.

Valencia was arrested Dec. 24, 2015. She was charged with nine counts of producing visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. According to the indictment, Valencia committed these crimes between May and August 2012 in San Juan (New Mexico) County.

On April 13, 2016, Valencia pleaded guilty to a felony information charging her with distributing child pornography.  In entering her guilty plea, Valencia admitted that from June 1 through June 30, 2012, she distributed nine child pornography images. Each image depicted the same 12-year-old victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Some of these images depicted the victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct with an adult man.

This case was investigated by HSI Albuquerque, HSI Phoenix and the San Juan County Sheriff's Office, with assistance from the 11th Judicial District Attorney's Office in Farmington, New Mexico.

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 14,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2015, nearly 2,400 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

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. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

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.