Sacramento, Calif- John Patrick Frost Jr., 28, of Rocklin, recently pleaded guilty to one count of possession of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.
According to court documents, on March 12, 2009, a photo-sharing website reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Cybertipline that a user had posted child pornography to their page. Further investigation led to a residence in Placer County where Frost spent time. According to the plea agreement, Frost admitted that between March 1, 2009 and August 9, 2009, he knowingly possessed images of child pornography. He further admitted that he had two prior state convictions involving child pornography.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Crimes Task Force and the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) High Technology Investigative Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Prince and CEOS Trial Attorney Jeffrey Zeeman are prosecuting the case.
Frost is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton on January 23, 2013 at 9:15 a.m. Based on his prior conviction, Frost faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.