Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
LBUQUERQUE — A Portales man pleaded not guilty yesterday on a federal charge of production of child pornography.
Augustin Gallegos, 34, was indicted last month in U.S. District Court on the charge of "production of a visual depiction of a minor engaging sexually explicit conduct" during a period from March 31, 2018 to May 16, 2019, according to court records.
The FBI arrested Gallegos Aug. 7 while he was already in custody on related state charges. Gallegos was indicted May 24 in the 9th Judicial District for first-degree felony kidnapping (intent to commit sexual offense), abuse of a child, tampering with evidence, and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to court records.
Those charges were dismissed this month "in favor of federal prosecution," according to a news release from the New Mexico district of the U.S. Dept. of Justice.
District Attorney Andrea Reeb said federal investigators had "always been involved since the beginning" and that Gallegos faced much stiffer penalties for the federal case.
Portales and Texico police assisted investigating the case in conjunction with the Roswell and Albuquerque offices of the FBI and the Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory.
Gallegos admitted to police that he picked up a 9-year old girl from school in Texico on May 15, drove her to Littlefield and then to Portales. Investigators located the girl locked in a church closet there May 16 and Gallegos admitted to them he did not have the girls' parents permission, according to the initial criminal complaint from Texico police.
"We knew it was always a possibility that the U.S. Attorney's office wanted to take it, they were just waiting on some forensic evidence that they wanted to confirm," Reeb told The News. "Their penalties were a lot more substantial than what the state could get."
Gallegos faces a "statutory mandatory minimum" of 15 years and maximum of 30 if convicted on his federal charge. He entered a plea of not guilty in arraignment yesterday morning and was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal's service, records show.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mease is prosecuting the case as a part of Project Safe Childhood, "a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse."
Defense attorney Bob Cooper told The News he did not have additional comment Wednesday on the case.
