SACRAMENTO MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The following information was released by the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California:

United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Nicholas Van Brocklin Trahan, 30, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty on Friday, April 29, 2011 to possession of child pornography.

According to the plea agreement, between August 2008 and September 2008 and between November 2008 and January 2009, law enforcement observed Trahan's computer offering child pornography for download through a common file-sharing network. On February 11, 2009, law enforcement agents executed a federal search warrant at Trahan's apartment and found approximately 300 video files containing child pornography in the file-sharing program that had previously been observed by law enforcement. A second folder created by Trahan on the computer titled "nicksss" also contained images of child pornography.

Trahan is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Garland E. Burrell, Jr. on July 22, 2011, at 9:00 a.m. He faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and a life term of supervised release. 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 is the product of an extensive investigation by the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The Sacramento ICAC is a federally and state funded task force managed by the Sacramento Sheriff's Department comprised of agents from federal, state, and local agencies. The purpose of the Sacramento ICAC is to investigate online child exploitation crimes, including child pornography, enticement, and sex trafficking. Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Reardon is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC mobilizes federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov or call the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California and ask to speak with the PSC coordinator.