Michael Llorca Guilty Plea – child pornography
REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER PLEADS GUILTY TO POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
PROVIDENCE – Michael Llorca, 48, of Providence, a registered sex offender previously convicted of rape of a child in Massachusetts in 1997, pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Providence today to possessing child pornography, announced United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman, Rhode Island State Police Colonel James M. Manni, and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh.
According to information presented to the Court, on October 31 and November 1, 2017, members of the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, using proprietary law enforcement software, observed that a device connected to an IP address associated with Llorca was sharing files of suspected child pornography via a Peer-to-Peer Network. A direct connection was made by law enforcement to a device connected to the IP address and numerous files of suspected child pornography were downloaded.
Separately, in November 2017, the ICAC Task Force received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an individual in Rhode Island had sent sexually explicit text messages and illicit images to a minor female via a social media application with which users can communicate and share images via text messages. The ICAC Task Force determined that the IP address used to send the text messages and images belonged to Michael Llorca.
On January 18, 2018, members of the ICAC Task Force executed a federal court-authorized search of Llorca’s Providence residence and seized a laptop computer, among several other electronic storage devices. A forensic audit of the computer revealed at least 18 videos files containing child pornography.
Llorca, who has been detained in federal custody since his arrest, is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith on June 17, 2019.
Possession of child pornography in this matter is punishable by statutory penalties of 20 years imprisonment, with a mandatory minimum term of 10 years imprisonment; a fine of $250,000; a term of supervised release of life; and a $5,000 special assessment imposed as required by the Justice for Victims Trafficking Act in child sexual exploitation cases where the Court makes a finding that the defendant is not indigent.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams.