Joshua Adam Williams, Child Pornography, New Mexico 2015

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico – A former New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) cadet from California has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his conviction on a possession of child pornography charge. Joshua Adam Williams, 21, of Lakeside, California, was ordered to serve 120 months in federal prison followed by 15 years of supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender after completing his prison sentence and pay $210,010.00 in restitution to one of the victims of his criminal conduct.

Williams was arrested on November 4, 2015, in Lakeside, California, on a criminal complaint alleging child pornography charges that was filed on October 27, 2015, in federal court in Las Cruces. He was transferred from California to Las Cruces on December 11, 2015, to face the charges against him.

The criminal complaint charged Williams with distribution, possession, and attempted production of videos and images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. It alleged that Williams committed these crimes in May 2015 in Roswell, New Mexico, while he was enrolled as a cadet at the New Mexico Military Institute.

Court filings reveal that the investigation into Williams began in August 2014, when a father and minor child disclosed to the FBI that the child had been self-producing child pornography and sharing it with others through an internet chat room. The father surrendered the child’s cellular phone to the FBI, and the agency found it to contain alleged child pornography that had been shared with a specific account identified by a particular username. After investigation revealed that Williams, who was then a NMMI cadet, was the subscriber to the account, search warrants were obtained for Williams’ computers, cellphone, and other digital media. Forensic examinations of Williams’ computer and cellphone revealed that they contained videos and images consistent with child pornography.

Williams pled guilty to a felony information charging him with possession of child pornography on April 20, 2016. In his plea agreement, Williams admitted that on May 5, 2015, he possessed a computer and cellular telephone that contained videos and images of child pornography. The plea agreement states that Williams’ computer contained a video of a toddler being sexually molested by an adult and his cellular phone contained approximately 100 videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

This case was investigated by the Roswell office of the FBI, New Mexico State Police, New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, and the New Mexico Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory with assistance from the FBI in San Diego, California, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa A. Ong of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office prosecuted the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Attorney General to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

The case also was brought as a part of the New Mexico ICAC Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico. There are 82 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the New Mexico Governor’s Office.

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