Child Pornographer Sentenced To 60 Months Incarceration

ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that on November 26, 2014, RANDY YABUT PALAGANAS was sentenced by Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court of Guam, to 60 months incarceration and five years of supervised release.
 
This sentence follows Defendant PALAGANAS’s plea of guilty on November 13, 2013, to one count of Receipt of Child Pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2).  As part of his plea, Defendant PALAGANAS admitted to utilizing a peer-to-peer (P2P) network to receive approximately 73 movies that depicted the sexual abuse of young children.  In addition to the sentence of 60 months of incarceration and five years of supervised release, Defendant PALAGANAS was ordered to register with the Sex Offender Registry in any jurisdiction in which he lives, works or attends school.  He was also ordered to forfeit his computer.

U.S. Attorney Limtiaco states, “Child pornography offenses involve the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.  These offenses are extremely serious because they result in perpetual harm to the child victims, and normalize the sexual exploitation of children.  When the Internet is utilized to obtain these images of child sexual abuse, the images can travel to offenders domestically and internationally anywhere in the world, to include into the Pacific region.  The harm to victims is life-long.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office remains committed to aggressively prosecuting defendants who victimize and prey on children through any means, including by computer.”

The U.S. Attorney additionally reminds defendants who have committed sexual abuse of children that, under federal and local law, all sex offenders have a duty to register and keep their registration current with the Sex Offender Registry in their jurisdiction.  Sex offenders who travel to Guam and who reside on Guam must inform the Guam Sex Offender Registry where they reside, work, or attend school. They must also periodically update their registration information.  The U.S. Attorney notes that the Sex Offender Registry was created in order to protect the public by protecting victims, preventing further victimization and informing the public of the whereabouts of sex offenders.  Guam’s Sex Offender Registry can be found online at www.guamcourts.org. 

U.S. Attorney Limtiaco noted that this prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood (PSC) Initiative, a nationwide commitment to aggressively prosecute defendants who engage in the sexual victimization of children and adults, possess or receive child pornography, and sex offenders who fail to register with the jurisdiction’s Sex Offender Registry.      

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations.  The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney R. San Nicolas.