Sacramento-area man pleads guilty to child pornography charges

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A northern California man faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography charges stemming from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Custom's Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Brian David Clayworth, 43, of Roseville, Calif., entered his plea in federal court Friday. According to the plea agreement, in December 2004, Los Angeles ICE HSI agents received information about a website selling access to child pornography. During that investigation, Clayworth was identified through email and financial records as someone who had purchased child pornography from the website.

On April 19, 2007, Sacramento ICE HSI agents interviewed Clayworth at his home and he admitted using the Internet to access child pornography websites and using his credit card to pay for access to those sites.

A forensic examination of Clayworth's computers and external hard drive found approximately 7,000 images and 200 videos on the desktop computer, approximately 600 images and 25 videos on a laptop computer, and more than 10,000 images and 400 videos on an external hard drive. Also found were emails documenting subscriptions to child pornography websites, links to newsgroups known to trade child pornography, bookmarked child pornography websites, and keyword searches tied to child pornography.

Clayworth sentencing is set for March 30. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a lifetime period of supervised release. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Reardon.

This investigation is part of ICE's Operation Predator, a nationwide initiative to identify, investigate and arrest those who sexually exploit children, and the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood (PSC), which was launched to increase federal prosecution of child sex predators, and to reduce the number of Internet crimes against children including child pornography trafficking.

As part of Operation Predator, ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 or 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 and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.

As a part of PSC, the United States Attorney's Office has teamed with state and local agencies and organizations to increase law enforcement presence on the Internet, and to educate the public about safe Internet use, thereby reducing the risk that children might fall prey to online sexual predators. For additional information on the PSC initiative, please go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov or call the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California and ask to speak with the PSC coordinator.