Chico Man Pleads Guilty to Filming Sexual Abuse of a Child

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —Nathan Alexander Drury, 39, of Chico, pleaded guilty today to Production of Child Pornography, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, between January 1, 2012, and December 1, 2014, Drury filmed a 47-second video of a nude child who was under the age of 12. The video that Drury produced shows the child being sexually abused.

This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Chico Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian A. Fogerty is prosecuting the case.

Drury has been in custody since he was arrested on March 23, 2015.

Drury is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. on April 6, 2018. Drury faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison. The maximum statutory penalty is 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “resources” tab for information about internet safety education.