U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark has sentenced Fabio Murillo Sanchez, a Colombian national, to nine years in prison for possession of child pornography. Sanchez, 51, pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of possession of child pornography.
In 2023, a detective from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department downloaded child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from an IP address traced back to Sanchez's home via the BitTorrent peer-to-peer network. During an interview with investigators, Sanchez admitted to possessing CSAM and surrendered three computer devices. He also confessed to viewing CSAM since 2009.
The FBI discovered 686 videos and 1,392 images containing CSAM on his devices, along with over 19,000 images described as "child erotica and nude child modeling," according to his plea agreement.
The investigation was conducted by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse. The project involves collaboration between U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals exploiting children online while identifying and rescuing victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.