Salt Lake City Man Sentenced to 330 Months in Federal Prison for Distribution of Child Pornography

SALT LAKE CITY – Donald Ray Fritcher, age 36, of Salt Lake City, will spend 330 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to distribution of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball, who imposed the sentence, also placed Fritcher on supervised release for life when he finishes his federal prison sentence.  There is no parole in the federal criminal justice system.

“Protecting vulnerable victims is one of the highest priorities in my office.  In Utah, we cannot, and will not, tolerate the exploitation of children.  he significant sentence imposed in this case will help protect children in Utah communities from a dangerous predator,” U.S. Attorney John W. Huber said today. 

As a part of a plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors, Fritcher admitted that between about July 1, 2015, and April 2016, he shared, through a file sharing program, images and videos of child pornography.  These images included depictions of prepubescent and minor children posing in various stages of undress and in sexually explicit poses.  He further stipulated that the images also depicted the sexual abuse of minor children.  Fritcher had more than 600 images and videos in his possession. Included in the images were pictures taken by Fritcher of two minor victims.

Fritcher, a registered sex offender in Utah, has two previous state convictions for attempted sex abuse of a child.  According to the indictment filed in the case, the pictures of the two minors were taken subsequent to his convictions in state court.      

Federal authorities arrested Fritcher in Utah in May 2016.  His arrest followed an investigation conducted by special agents of Homeland Security Investigations in Salt Lake City and Philadelphia working in collaboration with an investigator with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  The Utah agent is a member of the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force.

"HSI takes very seriously our responsibility to rescue victims of child pornography, including the two victims in this case who no longer have to endure this abuse," said John Eisert, Acting Special Special Agent in Charge of HSI Denver. "Donald Fritcher's prison sentence sends a clear message to criminals like him who abuse our children: we will find you and we will bring you to justice.”

Fritcher was charged with production of child pornography and possession of child pornography in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in May 2016.  He pleaded guilty to a felony information in February 2017 charging his with distribution of child pornography.