Vancouver man sentenced in child rape case

A Vancouver man was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court to 12 years in prison for distributing photos and videos of children being raped.

Joseph Schesso, 36, is currently serving a three-year sentence in state prison for attempted child molestation. The sentences will run consecutively, meaning he’ll be imprisoned for a total of 15 years.

“These crimes carry long sentences, but they are appropriate under the circumstances,” said Judge Robert J. Bryan at the sentencing.

The case was first brought forward in 2010, when investigators in Germany discovered that someone from the U.S. was distributing child pornography through a file-sharing program. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement traced the computer’s IP address to Schesso’s residence in Vancouver.

That summer, agents served a search warrant at Schesso’s home, seizing computers and a digital camera’s media card. Investigators found more than 3,400 images and 632 movie files of child pornography on the computers. The media card contained sexually explicit photos of a child taken at his house. The child was later identified as someone who had visited Schesso’s house before, according to court documents.

Schesso will have to register as a sex offender.

The case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative started by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.