| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 20, 2008 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN |
SAN JOSE – United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced that Christopher Burt Wiltsee pleaded guilty yesterday to possessing child pornography on a government computer. Mr. Wiltsee, 57, of Morgan Hill, California, was indicted on September 26, 2007, and charged with one count of possessing images of child pornography on his government computer.
According to the indictment and his plea agreement, in June of 2005, Mr. Wiltsee, who is no longer a federal employee, worked as an engineer at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) in Moffett Field, California. In pleading guilty, Mr. Wiltsee admitted that, while employed at NASA, he used his government computer to download child pornography from the Internet. Wiltsee admitted to possessing over 600 images, including ones depicting sadistic and masochistic conduct, as well as images involving prepubescent minors. After the plea, Mr.Wiltsee was remanded into custody of the U.S. Marshal pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 3143.
Mr. Wiltsee is scheduled to be sentenced on June 4, 2008, before United States District Judge Jeremy Fogel, in San Jose. The maximum statutory penalty for possession of child pornography under Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(4)(B) is ten years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. However, any sentence will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the United States Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, Title 18, United States Code, Section 3553.
Joseph A. Fazioli is the Assistant United States Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Legal Assistant Jeanne Carstensen. This prosecution is a result of an investigation by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Office of the Inspector General.
Further Information:
Case #: CR 07-00613 JF
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Joshua Eaton at (415) 436-6958 or by email at Josh.Eaton@usdoj.gov.