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15 years in prison on child porn charges
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A 63-year-old Manteca man was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on Tuesday following a plea agreement involving child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner.

Melvin David Kirkbride is slated to serve a lifetime of supervised release following the term of his sentence.  He will be required to register as a sex offender and his access to minors, computers and the internet is to be restricted, under the orders of United States District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill in Fresno.

The plea agreement,  that was filed in February of this year,  stated that Kirkbride had admitted that from June of 2007 until June of 2009 the Mantecan had used a computer and modem to receive or distribute numerous images of child pornography.  

Kirkbride reportedly admitted to a conviction in the summer of 1984 in King County Superior Court in Washington for statutory rape and indecent liberties with six minor males.  Authorities deemed him as a danger to society and a flight risk keeping him detained since June of last year.

The federal case was part of the Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Led by United States Attorneys’ offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC mobilizes federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims.

For more information visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov or call the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California and ask to speak with the PSC coordinator.