NM resident sentenced to 8 years in prison for child pornography conviction

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Rio Rancho, N.M., man was sentenced Tuesday to more than eight years in federal prison followed by 25 years of supervised release after his guilty plea to receiving child pornography.

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

Richard D. Crisman, 28, was also ordered to pay a $15,000 fine, and he will be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence.

Crisman was arrested in September 2010 as part of an investigative effort by federal, state and local law enforcement affiliates of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, which targets individuals throughout New Mexico involved in distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography through peer-to-peer file-sharing programs.

Twenty-two search warrants were executed and eight defendants were arrested in September 2010. The eight defendants were convicted of child pornography offenses and are serving prison sentences.

Crisman was charged with three counts of receiving and three counts of possessing child pornography. Crisman pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography in February 2012.

According to court records, Crisman was arrested as a result of an undercover investigation that revealed that Crisman received and possessed child pornography images through a peer-to-peer file-sharing program in November 2009, February 2010, April 2010, June 2010 and July 2010.

In September 2010, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Crisman's residence and seized computers and computer-related media that contained evidence of child pornography. While the search warrant was executed, Crisman voluntarily participated in a recorded interview during which he admitted using his computers to view child pornography.

At sentencing, Crisman acknowledged that a forensic examination of his computers and computer-related media uncovered more than 14,000 images and 40 videos of child pornography. He also acknowledged that among those images were 1,884 child pornography images that the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children determined were child pornography images and videos of more than 100 children, who have been identified as child pornography victims. Those children, as well as five others in nine other child pornography videos, have been identified as child pornography victims and were rescued prior to this investigation.

Among the law enforcement agencies that participated in this case are the following: HSI; Albuquerque Police Department; Farmington (N.M.) Police Department; FBI; Las Cruces (N.M.) Police Department; New Mexico Attorney General's Office; New Mexico State Police; Rio Rancho (N.M.) Police Department; Santa Fe (N.M.) Police Department; and the U.S. Marshals Service in Las Cruces.

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.