Uzbekistan National Sentenced To 19 Years In Prison For International Transportation Of Child Sex Abuse Images

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Wendy W. Berger has sentenced Sulton Nuriev (39, Uzbekistan) to 19 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for transportation of child sex abuse materials (CSAM). Nuriev pled guilty on September 26, 2023.

According to court documents, on January 13, 2022, Nuriev left the United States from Orlando, Florida to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. On February 20, 2022, he flew from Tashkent, Uzbekistan to Orlando, Florida. Upon Nuriev's reentry to the United States, an agent with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) conducted a border search of Nuriev's cellphone and located child sex abuse images on the phone. Further forensic investigation revealed that while Nuriev was abroad, he was posing online as a 12-year-old boy and enticing minor females to produce sexually explicit images of themselves.

This case was investigated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Shannon Laurie and Assistant United States Attorney Courtney Richardson-Jones.

This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.