Source: United States Department of Justice News
WASHINGTON – Donnell Rojas, 31, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 168 months in prison for possession of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Special Agent in Charge Wayne A. Jacobs of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division. He was also ordered to pay $117,000 in restitution to the identified victims and serve a lifetime of supervised release.
After receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (“NCMEC”), law enforcement executed a search warrant on a Yahoo account later revealed to belong to the defendant. The search warrant revealed that on April 29, 2020, the defendant sent three emails attaching numerous files constituting child sexual abuse materials (“CSAM”) to and from the Yahoo account—apparently sending the attachments to himself. Several of the files depicted the violent sexual abuse of prepubescent girls and boys, including at least two “GIF” files identified as part of the widely known “Daisy’s Destruction” series. A subsequent search warrant on a Facebook account tied to the defendant revealed that he distributed three images containing CSAM to other Facebook users, asking if one user had “[a]ny kid videos?”
On March 8, 2021, law enforcement executed a warrant at Rojas’s residence. During the search, Rojas admitted that the recovery email accounts linked to the Yahoo account belonged to him. Law enforcement also seized nine devices during the search warrant, including a white Apple iPhone 8 on his person bearing a phone number tied to the Yahoo account. A subsequent forensic review confirmed that five of the seized devices contained voluminous CSAM, including an encrypted hard drive containing CSAM in folders labeled “Taboo” and “Very Taboo.”
Rojas was arrested on Nov. 5, 2019, following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which is composed of FBI agents and local, state, and federal partners. He has been detained ever since. He pleaded guilty on June 16, 2022.
In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Graves and Special Agent in Charge Jacobs commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI and MPD. They acknowledged the efforts of those who handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim Witness Service Coordinator Tonya Jones. Finally, they commended the work of Trial Attorney-Detailee Jessica Arco, who investigated and prosecuted the case.