Jury Convicts Stanislaus County Man of Receipt of Child Sexual Abuse Material

A federal jury convicted a Stanislaus County man today for receipt of child pornography. Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department's Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California Eric Grant; Special Agent in Charge Siddhartha Patel of the FBI's Sacramento Field Office; and Chief Jason Hedden of the Turlock Police Department made the announcement.

"Today, a jury found Cragg guilty of crimes that encouraged the gross abuse of our society's most vulnerable members," said U.S. Attorney Grant. "The U.S. Department of Justice will continue to target for prosecution and imprisonment those who contribute to this vile conduct."

"The defendant was convicted by a jury for collecting videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children, including toddlers and infants who were subject to horrific abuse," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Galeotti. "This content is vile and illegal, and we will aggressively prosecute those who engage with it."

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Edward Cragg, 46, of Turlock, used a file-sharing program in 2015 and 2016 to search for and download more than 130 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, including infants and toddlers.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Turlock Police Department investigated the case, with substantial assistance from the Justice Department's High Technology Investigative Unit within the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gappa of the Eastern District of California and Trial Attorney McKenzie Hightower of CEOS are prosecuting the case.

Cragg is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 8, 2025, by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston. Cragg faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum sentence 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.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.