Our Miami Child pornography and child sex tourism lawyers will advise you regarding federal laws that contain severe penalties and are investigated by the FBI, ICE and local law enforcement agencies. The U.S Department of Justice has provided assistance to local law enforcement agencies at various levels in the form of the new Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces which operate throughout the United States. These task force groups are generally headed by the FBI and have arrested more than 12,000 individuals across the United States and U.S. Citizens abroad for violation of the federal child pornography and child sex tourism laws.
In addition to the task forces and FBI undercover agents who operate on the Internet generally in the form of sting operations in chat rooms and forums, ICE has made an additional 11,000 arrests under Operation Predator dealing specifically with child sex tourism. Most of the individuals arrested in child pornography cases and child sex tourism investigations have no criminal record. However, the simple possession of an image (photo) on a computer owned by a subject can carry a penalty of 10 years in prison for each count. Receiving an image in a child pornography case can result in a sentence from 5 to 20 years in prison. Distribution of child pornography can carry a more severe penalty in federal prison. Recently in South Florida a man received a sentence of 40 years in prison for distribution of child pornography.
Miami Child Pornography Lawyer
If you have been charged/indicted for child pornography or you believe you are under investigation by the FBI, one of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces or ICE we invite you to contact the law offices of Youngs and Associates as soon as possible for legal advice. If you are contacted by law enforcement regarding such a case do not provide any statements to them or agree to searches of your residence or computer hard drive without contacting an attorney for guidance.
If you believe that cooperating with federal law enforcement by allowing them to search your home or take your computer with your consent will make the criminal case against you go away you are making a very big mistake. Any statement given to them or information contained on your computer will be used to support a case against you for child pornography or child sex tourism if you made any plans to travel outside the United States and have a sexual relationship with any one under 18 years old in a foreign country. It doesn’t matter if the person is in non-U.S. Citizen. The federal law still applies because you, the accused, are a U.S. Citizen thereby allowing the government to have jurisdiction over you for purposes of a prosecution in the United States for one or more of these federal charges.
Child pornography charges as indicated earlier, can be brought against you as the defendant for the simple possession of one photograph of a minor (less than 18 years old). It is not required under the law that you have actually met the person, spoken with them or even physically been near such a person. If you possess any such photograph even though it was in the privacy of your home, you can be found guilty of violating federal law relating to child pornography. Normally, in these cases, law enforcement will seek potential defendants online on the Internet who are in chat rooms or other forums and begin to either ask or offer to exchange photographs of minors under the age of 18 years old. In some instances, law enforcement even pursues clients of businesses distributing child pornography on the Internet who are purchasing child pornography from distributors in foreign countries whose governments have not cooperated with Western law enforcement in arresting such distributors.
If you are contacted by any law-enforcement agency regarding activities relating to child pornography do not offer any statements of cooperation but instead we encourage you to contact our office immediately so that you can receive an assessment of your legal position. Cooperation with law enforcement can seal your fate and you may end up pleading guilty and being sentenced in federal court to serve many years in prison. Don’t jeopardize your freedom.
Fort, Lauderdale, Florida Child Pornography Attorney
Child sex tourism federal laws only require that a US citizen has the intent to meet a minor under the age of 18 in a foreign country for purposes of a having a sexual relationship with the minor. In many instances, defendants are arrested when they are leaving the United States on a trip to a foreign country where they plan to meet a minor to have a sexual relationship of some kind. If you are arrested at any U.S. airport where you are departing to a foreign country to meet a minor you should contact an attorney and make no statement to law-enforcement regarding the purpose of your trip abroad. In most instances, federal law-enforcement including the FBI or ICE will have obtained information from sources in foreign countries or through any Internet transmissions or telephone calls made by the accused in advance of the trip indicating an intent to meet with a minor in a foreign country and to have such a sexual relationship.
Sometimes the parents of minor children in foreign countries offer opportunities to U.S. Citizens to have a sexual encounter with their minor children. If you agree to any such proposition on the Internet or by telephone or mail you may be charged with child sex tourism violations.
If you believe you are under investigation for such a case, have been interviewed regarding any such matter or have been arrested by either federal or local law enforcement, you have the right to be represented by an attorney of your choice. Our office will provide you with free initial legal advice in dealing with federal law enforcement and federal prosecutions to help guide you through the legal system.
Our goal is to defend your rights aggressively in these cases related to any federal charges of child pornography or travel for the purpose of having a sexual relationship with a minor in sex tourism matters. It is important that you contact us or another attorney you choose before law-enforcement contacts you. We have offices in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Ft. Myers and Key West, Florida. We also have offices in Denver and New York City.