A Folsom man, identified as 25-year-old William James Fitzgerald, has entered a guilty plea for sexual exploitation of a child; this announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney Kimberly A. Sanchez earlier this week. Court records revealed disturbing interactions between Fitzgerald and a minor, initiated on Snapchat, where he coerced the child into creating sexually explicit material in exchange for Amazon gift cards valued between $20 to $30, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The exploitation extended from October 2020 through May 2022, according to the same court documents where Fitzgerald used Snapchat as a platform to meet and manipulate a minor into producing explicit content on multiple occasions, and Fitzgerald carried out similar actions between February 9, 2021, and February 20, 2021, using the same method to engage another minor in the production of sexually explicit photographs and videos. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, together with the Folsom Police Department, conducted the investigation, which brought to light Fitzgerald's possession of over a thousand files depicting appalling instances of child sexual abuse on his devices.
Fitzgerald's sentencing is set for November 7, by U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins; he is facing a minimum of 15 years to a maximum of 30 years behind bars, coupled with lifelong supervision and the obligation to pay restitution, not to mention the possibility of a $250,000 fine, however, the concrete sentence will be at the court's discretion, taking into account various statutory factors along with the Federal Sentencing Guidelines that incorporate a wide range of variables. Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitnee Goins is leading the prosecution on this case, which comes as part of Project Safe Childhood, a DOJ initiative aiming to tackle child exploitation and abuse.
