Daragh Finbar Hayes, Child Sex Abuse Material, California 2024

Rancho Cordova Man Pleads Guilty to Child Sex Abuse Material Charges

Daragh Finbar Hayes, a 44-year-old man from Rancho Cordova, has pleaded guilty to producing and distributing child sex abuse material in California. The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Eric Grant on January 9, 2024.

According to court documents, Hayes knowingly used a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of that conduct between June 25, 2024, and September 30, 2024. He kept images of the sex abuse in a ‘hidden’ folder on his personal electronic device and distributed images of the sex abuse to at least one other person over the internet.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shea J. Kenny is prosecuting the case.

Hayes is currently in custody and will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins at a later date. For each of the three counts of production of child sexual abuse material, Hayes faces a mandatory statutory minimum of 15 years in prison, a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine. For the count of distribution of child sexual abuse material, he faces a mandatory statutory minimum of five years in prison, a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine.

The actual sentence 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 was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the ‘resources’ tab for information about internet-safety education.

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