Two convicted in separate child pornography cases

In another case, Eric M. Villa, 39, of Lewiston, was sentenced to nine years in prison for distributing videos containing child pornography. He was charged with possession of child pornography, according to the press release.

The FBI began investigating Villa in 2023 for exchanging child pornography online with others under aliases on social media apps Instagram and Telegram. After discovering Villa was behind the bills, officials obtained a search warrant for his home and vehicle in 2024. Law enforcement officers found a phone belonging to Villa in his vehicle, which later revealed that he had more than 750 videos of child pornography spread across more than 550 videos. videos and distributed more than 100,000 files totaling more than 460 GB of data via links to an online file hosting service, the press release said.

Villa pleaded guilty to the charges on July 15. Nye also ordered that Villa be placed on supervised release for 15 years following his prison term.

U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit noted the work of the Moscow Police Department, Latah County Sheriff’s Office, Lewiston Police Department, Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI that led to Peer and Villa’s charges. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Johnson prosecuted the cases.

“I am proud of my office’s efforts to work with law enforcement agencies across our state to identify child predators and bring them to justice,” Hurwit said in the news release. “These cases involving suspects in North Idaho and North Central Idaho demonstrate the reach of our collective efforts, and Idaho’s children are safer because of these results.”

The cases were also part of Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The group is led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Division, which uses federal, state, and local resources to locate, arrest, and prosecute individuals who exploit children online, and to prosecute victims identify and rescue. according to the press release.