LOS ANGELES – A Riverside man was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in federal prison for possession of child pornography, the latest Inland Empire man to receive a substantial sentence for a child pornography offense.

Walter Klink, 42, was sentenced by United States District Judge Virginia A. Phillips to spend 240 months in prison. Following his release from custody, Klink will be on lifetime supervised release.

Klink had previously been convicted by the United States Attorney's Office for possession of child pornography. In 2007 he was sentenced by Judge Phillips to eight years in prison.  After commencing his supervised release, law enforcement received evidence that Klink once again possessed child pornography, including pornographic images of a minor relative.

“This defendant's criminal conduct paused only while he was in federal prison,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “Therefore, the sentence in this case will help protect the children of our community for the next two decades and will ensure the defendant is under court supervision for the rest of his life.”

This case against Klink was the result of a joint investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Riverside County District Attorney's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) team. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tritia Yuen of the Riverside branch office.

Klink is the latest man from the Inland Empire who has been convicted recently or currently face federal charges related to child pornography. In the other cases:

· Jeremy Matthew Meyerett, 41, of San Bernardino, was sentenced December 12 to 20 years in federal prison for producing child pornography, including a sexually explicit pictures of a 5-year-old girl.

· James Gregory O'Neill, 58, of Riverside, was sentenced on May 2 to 10 years in federal prison for his third conviction of possessing child pornography. When authorities discovered the pictures on O'Neill's phone, he was on parole after being convicted in Riverside Superior Court of possessing matter depicting a minor in a sexual act, a crime that led to a two-year sentence. O'Neill had also been convicted in federal court in 2003 of distributing child pornography, a conviction that brought a 40-month prison sentence.

· Andrew Harrison Fowler, 26, of Perris, a convicted sex offender who was convicted of having sex with minors in San Diego Superior Court, pleaded guilty on April 18 to possession of child pornography, with some of the images depicting victims younger than 10. Fowler came to the attention of law enforcement after his employer discovered that he was distributing and possessing child pornography while using a computer at his job in Corona. Fowler was sentenced by Judge Phillips on June 27 to 12 years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release. Fowler was on parole in the San Diego case when he committed the offense in the federal case. This case was investigated by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office Sexual Assault and Felony Enforcement/Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, which includes special agents with HSI.

· Anthony Michael Scotti, 22, of Murrieta, pleaded guilty on April 4 to possession of child pornography. Scotti, who was previously convicted in Riverside Superior court of distributing lewd material to a minor, admitted that he had images on an iPod that was seized by law enforcement last August, and that he used the Kik messaging app to distribute images of children engaged in sex acts with adults. In a plea agreement, Scotti also admitted that he used text messages to convince a 15-year-old girl in another state to take sexually explicit pictures and send them to him. United States District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez is scheduled to sentence Scotti on January 23, at which time the defendant faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, and prosecutors have recommended a sentence of 14 years. This case was investigated by HSI.

· Angelo Harper Jr., 21, of Moreno Valley, was found guilty after a two-day bench trial on charges of advertising, distributing and possessing child pornography. Trial evidence included an explicit six-minute video depicting a man with a pre-pubescent boy, as well as evidence showing that Harper used the Messenger to access a chatroom for those interested in nepiophilia, which is a sexual interest in infants and toddlers. Harper “possessed 8,260 images and 520 videos of child pornography,” according to court documents. “This collection included violent depictions of the rape and assault of babies and toddlers.” Harper was sentenced in October by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner to 235 months in federal prison. This case was investigated by HSI and the Riverside Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force.

· Nathan Charles Longino Barba, 21, of Rancho Cucamonga, pleaded guilty in August to possessing child pornography. Barba received images and videos depicting child pornography over the Internet. “Some of the images depicted children under two years old being used for sexual acts,” prosecutors said in court papers. “Other images of child pornography portrayed sadistic or masochistic sexual conduct involving the minor children.” Barba is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Virginia A. Phillips on January 30. Prosecutors have recommended a sentence of three years in federal prison. This case was investigated by FBI.

USAO – California, Central Updated December 27, 2016

Central District of California DOJ / 16-313 / December 21, 2016