Rupert man pleads guity to producing child pornography
A Rupert man pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of creating child pornography.
Erik Rodriguez, 25, of Rupert, Idaho, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor child, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Rodriguez was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pocatello on November 24, 2015.
According to the plea agreement, Homeland Security special agents, working in conjunction with the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) officers, downloaded a sexually exploitative video of a minor from an individual later identified as Rodriguez in April 2015. After a search of Rodriguez’s home revealed numerous computers and electronic devices being used to view and store child pornography, Rodriguez admitted to possessing and producing child pornography. Agents found approximately 133 images and 302 videos of child sexual abuse material on Rodriguez’s devices, in addition to the sexually explicit images Rodriguez produced of a girl under 10 years old.
The charge of sexual exploitation of a minor is punishable by at least 15, and up to 30, years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and five years, up to a life term, of supervised release.
Sentencing is set for November 8, 2016.
The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Minidoka County Sheriff’s Office, and the Idaho ICAC Task Force.
