KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Excelsior Springs, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing and attempting to distribute child pornography.

Gabriel Valencia, Jr., 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to 10 years in federal prison without parole.

On Nov. 30, 2018, Valencia pleaded guilty to attempting to distribute child pornography over the internet and to possessing child pornography.

The investigation began when another person admitted to possessing and distributing images of child pornography, chatting online with likeminded individuals, and ultimately giving Valencia the password to a cloud-based storage site containing child pornography images. A federal agent, acting in an undercover capacity, contacted Valencia. On Sept. 22, 2016, Valencia sent the undercover agent a video of child pornography.

On Oct. 3, 2016, members of the FBI Cybercrimes Task Force executed a search warrant at Valencia’s residence. Officers seized two laptop computers, a mini tablet, and two cell phones, one of which contained a 4GB micro sim card. One of the laptop computers had contained approximately 300 images of child pornography. The sim card contained 606 images of child pornography and six videos of child pornography.

One of the cell phones had thousands of chat messages, including dozens of chats in which Valencia engaged in sexually explicit conversations with numerous individuals, many of whom claimed to be under the age of 18. Valencia asked for, and received, explicit photos on numerous occasions, sometimes posing as teenage female. In one of his Skype messages, Valencia stated, “with the type of porn I look at I could go to prison for the rest of my life.”

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David A. Barnes. It was investigated by the FBI.

Project Safe Childhood

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 individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."