Arizona Man Pleads Guilty to Distributing Child Pornography

WASHINGTON – An Arizona man pleaded guilty today to one count of distributing child pornography, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Diane J. Humetewa of the District of Arizona announced.

Theodore Craig Allan, 54, of Glendale, Ariz., was indicted on March 6, 2007, for distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography. Appearing in Phoenix before U.S. District Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt, Allan admitted that he knowingly distributed images of child pornography through the Internet on multiple occasions.

In his plea agreement, Allan admitted that one of the images in question depicted a nude minor female, approximately 8 years old, engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Allan further admitted that he distributed this image using the Internet and e-mail software. In addition, Allan acknowledged that he knew he was distributing child pornography and that the images in question involved actual children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Allan also admitted that he possessed more 600 images of child pornography, some of which involved children under the age of 12 years.

Allan’s sentencing has been scheduled for Oct. 20, 2008. At sentencing, Allan faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison up to a maximum of 20 years in prison, a lifetime term of supervised release upon completion of the prison sentence and a fine of up to $250,000.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney James Silver of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Vincent Q. Kirby of the District of Arizona. The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security.