Yelm, Washington, man sentenced to ten years in prison for possession of images of child sexual abuse

Tacoma – A 40-year-old Yelm, Washington man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to ten years in prison for possession of images of child sexual abuse, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Scotti Jason Ortiz has been in custody since his arrest on February 9, 2021.

According to records filed in the case, a foreign law enforcement agency alerted Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Cyber Crimes Center (C3) Child Exploitation Investigations Unit that a Kik user was sharing images of child sexual abuse. Ortiz was identified as the user.

When a search warrant was served on Ortiz’ electronic devices, law enforcement determined he possessed a video showing the sexual molestation of three children under the age of 12. It does not appear that Ortiz created the images.

Ortiz has prior convictions relating to child sexual abuse. In 2005 he was convicted of third-degree rape of a child. In 2013 he was sentenced to 75-months in prison for failing to register as a sex offender and dealing and possessing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Due to those convictions, Ortiz faced a mandatory minimum ten-year federal prison sentence.

Ortiz was released from the 75-month state sentence on June 30, 2020, and had been out of prison barely a month when he set up the Kik account in August 2020. It was through that account that he began to communicate with an undercover law enforcement agent in England about his sexual interest in children.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Zach Dillon.

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. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.