FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
FIRST "TWO-STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT" LIFE SENTENCE IN MONTANA FOR RECIDIVIST SEX OFFENDER
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Missoula, on October 17, 2007, before Chief Judge Donald W. Molloy, WILLIAM JAMES GALLENARDO, a 46-year-old resident of Belgrade, appeared for sentencing. GALLENARDO was sentenced to a term of:
Prison: life imprisonment on Count I, and 240 months on Count II, to run concurrently
- Special Assessment: $200
- Supervised Release: life
- Forfeiture: media cards
GALLENARDO was sentenced after having been found guilty during a 2-day trial of sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography.
At trial, the government presented evidence of the following:
GALLENARDO was married in June of 2002, to a woman hereafter referred to as "L.G.". GALLENARDO reported to "L.G." that he served time in prison for sexually abusing a child, but that he had changed. GALLENARDO purchased a black Olympus camera that he used during their marriage. In 2005, "L.G." found 4 camera memory cards and a video tape that contained nude images of a juvenile male, hereafter referred to as "B.L.". She also found separate images of two other males. "L.G." hid the items, but GALLENARDO was mad that she had found them. "L.G." gave two of the memory cards and the video back to GALLENARDO and he burned them. "L.G." kept the two memory cards that contained the nude images of "B.L.", a juvenile. "L.G." turned those cards over to law enforcement when allegations surfaced in 2006 that GALLENARDO had sexually abused another male child.
B.L." was questioned and reported that GALLENARDO had taken both digital pictures of him as well as videotape and that the events took place during 2003 - 2005 at Belgrade and various other locations the two were together. "B.L." reported that he complied with GALLENARDO'S requests because he did not want GALLENARDO to do something to him. "B.L." has some developmental delays as well.
During the investigation, "B.L." made a recorded telephone call to GALLENARDO wherein GALLENARDO told "B.L.". that the pictures were "burned" and told him what to say if contacted by law enforcement. GALLENARDO told "B.L." to keep with that story or GALLENARDO would spend 25 years in prison. GALLENARDO told "B.L." that he burned the pictures in the burn barrel.
GALLENARDO was sentenced as a repeat offender pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3559(e), the "two-strikes and you're out" law. GALLENDARDO has prior sexual abuse convictions involving children in Montana from 1987 for which he spent time at the Montana State Prison. Because there is no parole in the federal system, GALLENDARDO will serve the remainder of his life in federal prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcia K. Hurd prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Gallatin County Sheriff's Office, and Montana Department of Criminal Investigations.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
