Spokane – Today, James A. McDevitt, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that Franklin Mendoza Corpuz, age 56, of Richland, Washington was sentenced for receiving child pornography over the Internet.

In April 2006, the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Cyber Crimes Center, Child Exploitation Section investigated various organizations operating commercial child pornography websites. They discovered various customers paying for access to these sites, including Franklin Corpuz, an engineer living in Richland, Washington. In January 2008, a federal search warrant was executed by ICE, at Franklin Corpuz’ residence. A computer and numerous external electronic storage devices were seized and later examination showed them to contain 1,148 files containing child pornography videos and 8,866 files containing images of children pornography. These images had been downloaded on the computer and computer devices between November 2006 and January 2008. Some of the images were of children under 12 years old and some were sadistic and masochistic images of minors. In February 2010, Franklin Corpuz was charged by grand jury indictment for receiving child pornography and in June 2010, Franklin Corpuz pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography.

Franklin Corpuz was ordered to serve 60 months in prison, followed by a 10 year term of court supervision after he is released from prison. Franklin Corpuz was also ordered to pay $3,000 to one of the known victims depicted in the pornography for future mental health treatment. He will be required to register as a sex offender for his lifetime.

James A. McDevitt, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, said, “Child pornography victimizes the most vulnerable members of our society. These crimes involve real children that now need years of mental health counseling and treatment.”

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. The Project Safe Childhood (PSC) Initiative has five major components:

• Integrated federal, state, and local efforts to investigate and prosecute child exploitation cases, and to identify and rescue child victims
• Participation of PSC partners in coordinated national initiatives
• Increased federal enforcement in child pornography and enticement cases
• Training of federal, state, and local law enforcement agents
• Community awareness and educational programs

To report these crimes, visit www.cybertipline.com or call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s hotline at 1-800-843-5678.

This investigation was conducted by the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. This case was prosecuted by Stephanie Lister, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.

10-CR-6009-WFN

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