Source: United States Department of Justice News
DETROIT – A Garden City, Michigan man was sentenced yesterday to 15 years in federal prison for attempted sexual exploitation of children based on his request to an undercover federal agent to create child pornography, announced United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison.
Ison was joined in the announcement by James A. Tarasca, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Collin Patrick Valenti, 25, was sentenced by United States District Judge Victoria A. Roberts. Valenti pleaded guilty to asking a person who he believed was a parent of a young child—but in reality was an undercover law enforcement officer—to create and send a video of the parent performing a sex act on that individual’s minor child.
In addition to the attempt offense that he pleaded guilty to committing, Valenti engaged in the hands-on abuse of a small child. He also pretended to be a teenage girl online to obtain sexually explicit photographs of a minor teenage boy. Valenti admitted that on approximately 50 other occasions he sought sexually explicit images of children from individuals he believed to be the parents of the children.
“This offender requested that another individual create a horrific image of sexual abuse. We can only be thankful that he was communicating with an undercover law enforcement officer and not another abuser so that he could not cause harm to another minor. This office will continue to work with law enforcement agencies as they proactively work to find and stop those who seek to exploit and abuse children.” U.S. Attorney Ison stated.
This case was investigated by the Northeast Michigan Trafficking and Exploitation Crimes Task Force of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Rawsthorne.