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GREAT FALLS — A former Montana man, Joshua Dean Fish, has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for sexually exploiting numerous children, including two Montana victims, through online activity.
Fish, 27, of Gilbert, Arizona, pleaded guilty on June 9 to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and to receipt of child pornography.
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson, Fish communicated directly with children through the internet to coerce them into sending him sexually explicit images of themselves.
Johnson stated that Fish offered to pay for the images, which were sent through the internet, and that many parents and guardians have little ability to monitor these kinds of communications.
“Anyone who exploits children in this way is an extreme danger to our children and a substantial threat to the community and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Johnson said.
Johnson also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee L. Peterson and the investigative agencies in Montana and Arizona for their work on this case.
The government alleged in court documents that in January 2020, the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office received a report of online sexually explicit activity involving two children, who were under the age of 18.
An investigation identified Fish as offering to pay for the sexually explicit images. Prior to mid-2018, Fish resided in Montana.
The two Montana child victims, one in Butte and another in Helena, reported that an online user promised monetary digital payments in exchange for nude images that would be sent through the internet.
Both child victims sent Fish sexually explicit images of themselves.
An investigation by Arizona law enforcement into a Cybertip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children involving sending and receiving child pornography through a social media application led to Fish.
In June 2020, law enforcement searched Fish’s residence. Fish admitted to law enforcement that he paid minor girls for nude images, which were sent to him online, and to possessing numerous hard drives containing child pornography.
An examination of digital devices seized during the search found hundreds of thousands of images and video files of child pornography.
The examiner determined that Fish received many of these files while living in Montana from 2012 to 2018.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee L. Peterson prosecuted the case, which was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, FBI, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Gilbert (Arizona) Police Department.
This case was initiated under the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative, which was launched in 2006 to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children.
The sentence will be followed by 10 years of supervised release. Restitution is pending a later hearing.
Key Facts
- State: Montana
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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