December 10, 2022 - A California man was sentenced yesterday to 47 years and six months in prison for producing and receiving images of child sexual abuse.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, in July 2018, a parent reported to Snapchat that a user, later identified as Christopher Jeorge Millican, 29, of Coalinga, had been engaging in inappropriate communications with her 11-year-old daughter. Snapchat reviewed Millican’s account and discovered images and videos depicting another, then 15-year-old minor, engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Snapchat reported the conduct to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which contacted the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Fresno. Investigators identified the minor victim, who informed them that Millican had coerced her into creating and sending him these images. At the time of the offense conduct, Millican was on active duty with the U.S. Navy.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert for the Eastern District of California made the announcement.

The Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, composed of Homeland Security Investigations, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, the Fresno Police Department, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Hanford Police Department, and several local police agencies across the United States, investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Nadia Prinz of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gappa for the Eastern District of California prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the 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 www.justice.gov/psc.

Source: DOJ Release