Placer County Man Pleads Guilty to Child Exploitation Charge

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Paul Hughes, 41, of Colfax, pleaded guilty today to sexual exploitation of a child, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, between September 2018 and June 2019, on three separate occasions Hughes created visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Hughes used a cellphone to surreptitiously record at least three videos containing child sexual abuse material and saved them on an external hard drive. In addition to these videos, agents recovered over 3,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse material on Hughes's external hard drive and Google account.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise N. Yasinow is prosecuting the case.

Hughes is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 30, 2025, by U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley. Hughes faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum statutory penalty of 30 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.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the "resources" tab for information about internet-safety education.