Las Vegas Lawyer Indicted for Child Exploitation

A Las Vegas attorney faces serious charges after a grand jury indicted him for child exploitation offenses in Bakersfield, California, authorities announced yesterday.

Charles Max Pollock, 43, of Las Vegas, is accused of two counts of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. The indictment stems from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bakersfield Police Department.

According to court documents, Pollock used an alias and posed as a photographer to contact an adult female who had posted an advertisement on Craigslist in Bakersfield seeking a modeling opportunity. The ad noted that her minor son had experience as a model.

Pollock traveled from Las Vegas to Bakersfield, rented a hotel room, and took sexually explicit images of the minor. He returned to Las Vegas and continued to communicate with the minor and his mother, encouraging the minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct for purposes of taking photographs of the minors.

Pollock faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a lifetime term of supervised release for each of the four counts. Any sentence would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

Pollock is currently in custody in Clark County, Nevada, on other charges. This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.

The charges against Pollock are only allegations, and he is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

For more information on Project Safe Childhood, visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the ‘resources’ tab for information about Internet safety education.

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