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Department of Justice Logo 

U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney
Northern District of California

 

11th Floor, Federal Building
450 Golden Gate Avenue, Box 36055
San Francisco, California  94102

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

 

Tel: (415) 436-7200
Fax: (415) 436-7234

 

June 8, 2004

The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Homayun Ahmad, 35, of Pacific Grove, CA, was arraigned in federal court yesterday on an indictment charging him with two counts of using a facility of interstate commerce to knowingly attempt to persuade, induce and entice a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b).

According to the indictment, Mr. Ahmad is alleged to have used the Internet to attempt to knowingly persuade, induce, and entice an individual who had not attained the age of 18 years to engage in illegal sexual activity, on two separate occasions over the last nine months.  

From about August to September of 2003, the defendant allegedly sent sexually explicit AOL Instant Messaging communications to a 15-year old minor in Modesto, California.  The defendant asked the minor sexually explicit questions, made sexually explicit remarks, and repeatedly asked the minor to meet him, telling her that he would rent a hotel room and they could "have some fun there."  After the minor's mother discovered these communications on the home computer, using software that she had installed on the computer to monitor her daughter's online activity, she alerted the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department, who assumed the minor's online screen identity to continue investigating the case.  The defendant, still believing that he was speaking to a 15-year old minor, arranged to meet the minor at the Del Taco restaurant in Turlock, CA.  When the defendant arrived, he was arrested by the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department.

Subsequently, while out on bail in the Stanislaus County case, the defendant is alleged to have engaged in similar conduct from about January to March of 2004, with a 16-year old minor in Santa Cruz, CA.  In that case, the defendant, using AOL Instant Messaging, made sexually explicit  remarks to the minor and repeatedly asked to meet her in person.  The defendant also sent the minor multiple graphic pornographic images depicting adults having sexual intercourse.  The defendant was arrested by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department on March 18, 2004.

The mandatory minimum statutory penalty for each count in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) is five years of imprisonment.  The maximum statutory penalty for each count in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) is 30 years of imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.  However, any sentence following conviction would be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and would be imposed in the discretion of the Court.  An indictment simply contains allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Ahmad must be presumed innocent unless and until convicted.

Mr. Ahmad made his initial appearance in federal court in San Jose on June 7, 2004.   He is detained pending a detention hearing which is scheduled for June 10, 2004, at 9:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia V. Trumbull.  The defendant is also scheduled to appear at 1:30 p.m. on June 28, 2004, for a trial setting or a plea hearing before U.S. District Court Judge James Ware.

The prosecution is the result of a nine-month investigation by the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department and of the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Shawna Yen is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the federal case, with the assistance of legal assistant Tracey Andersen. 

A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.  Related court documents and information may be found on the District Court website at www.cand.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.cand.uscourts/gov.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415) 436-7181.

mattmed