Sacramento-area man sentenced to 15 years in prison on federal child pornography charge
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – An Orangevale man with a prior conviction relating to the sexual abuse of a minor has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Theodore Allen Leleaux, 34, appeared for his sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court Friday.
According to court documents, in December 2013, HSI special agents in Maine and Wyoming investigating the distribution of child pornography received unsolicited emails from Leleaux seeking to trade child pornography with accounts the investigators had taken over. In February 2014, investigators executed a search warrant at Leleaux’s residence. On his cellphone, special agents found at least 5,000 images and 400 videos of child pornography. Leleaux had been previously convicted in Superior Court in Contra Costa County of having unlawful sex with a minor.
“While the internet has positively transformed the lives of millions, some have chosen to use it as a tool to prey on innocent victims,” said Ryan L. Spradlin, Special Agent in Charge of HSI San Francisco. “This sentence reflects the seriousness of the crimes of the defendant who repeatedly disregarded the law while causing long-lasting damage to his young victims.”
This case is a product of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and 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.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew G. Morris prosecuted the case.
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