Idaho man sentenced for distribution, possession of child pornography

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI)- A Twin Falls man will spend the next 30 years in federal prison for distributing and possessing child pornography.

Miles Patrick Barclay, 47, of Twin Falls, was sentenced in U.S. District Court Friday. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Barclay to serve 25 years of supervised release following his prison sentence. Barclay pleaded guilty to the charges on October 29, 2020.

According to court records, in June 2019, Barclay began communicating online with an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old female. Barclay engaged in sexually explicit conversation with the 14-year-old and asked her to take explicit images of herself and send them to him. Barclay also sent the 14-year-old images and videos of child pornography.

A federal magistrate judge issued a search warrant for Barclay’s residence in Twin Falls. Members of the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force executed the search warrant and seized two cellphones and two laptop computers from the residence. A forensic examination of the devices revealed hundreds of files of child pornography. Barclay admitted to communicating online with an underage female and to trading child pornography with other individuals through the internet.

At sentencing, Judge Winmill also ordered Barclay to pay restitution of $27,000 to victims in the images he possessed and to forfeit the electronic devices used in the commission of the offense. As a result of conviction, Barclay will be required to register as a sex offender.

This case was investigated by the Idaho ICAC Task Force and the Rupert Police Department with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Twin Falls Police Department, and the Idaho Department of Correction Probation and Parole.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. As part of Project Safe Childhood, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office partner to marshal federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.