Albuquerque Man Pleads Guilty to Interstate Travel to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct with a Minor, Child Exploitation and Child Pornography Charges

ALBUQUERQUE – Bentley Streett, 42, of Albuquerque, N.M., pled guilty this morning in federal court to interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, child exploitation and child pornography charges. 

According to court documents, Streett was arrested in Oct. 2014, by the FBI and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) on federal child exploitation charges.  The investigation into Streett began in Oct. 2013, after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children forwarded a tip to the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. 

During today’s proceedings, Streett pled guilty to interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, two counts of production of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct also known as child pornography, three counts of attempted production of child pornography, distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

In entering the guilty plea, Streett admitted that between July 31, 2013, and Aug. 4, 2013, he traveled from Albuquerque to Sycamore, Ill., for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct with a 14-year- old victim.  Streett also admitted that from May 2013 through at least Feb. 2014, he attempted to persuade minors to produce child pornography and send the images to him and sent one of those minors different images of child pornography.  Streett admitted that he saved multiple images of child pornography on his laptop.

At sentencing, Streett faces a statutory mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in federal prison.  Streett also will be required to register as a sex offender. 

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the FBI, the BCSO, the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office and the Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (RCFL).  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mease as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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 to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.

The case also was brought as a part of the New Mexico ICAC Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico.  There are 86 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office.  Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.