TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Sean Kurt Paolo Macalacad, 24, of Tallahassee, Florida, has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of children and one count of receipt of child pornography.
The harsh sentence was handed down by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, who emphasized the severity of child exploitation crimes. “There is no greater charge than the protection of our children,” Coody said. “This sentence is yet another example of the unwavering commitment to the protection of our most vulnerable and should serve as a significant deterrent to those who would attempt to harm them.”
According to plea documents, law enforcement officers received Cybertips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that a user of a social media account had transmitted five files constituting child pornography. The investigation revealed that the account belonged to Macalacad, an engineering student at Florida State University.
During the course of the investigation, law enforcement officers obtained search warrants for two of Macalacad’s cell phones. An examination of the first phone’s contents confirmed that Macalacad was in possession of multiple child pornography images and videos with victims as young as 6 months of age. The phone also contained evidence that Macalacad was engaged in sexually explicit chats with a 15-year-old boy through another social media application.
The search of the second phone revealed that it contained additional child pornography videos, and that it had been used to contact two 17-year-old boys through a social media application and obtain sexually explicit photographs of them.
Macalacad’s prison sentence will be followed by lifetime supervised release, and he will be required to register as a sex offender and will be subject to all sex offender conditions. The Court ordered forfeiture of electronic devices used in the commission of the offenses, including two cell phones.
The conviction was the result of a joint investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Justin M. Keen prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit https://www.pacer.gov/.
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Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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