Sex offender sentenced
A convicted sex offender from Tennessee will serve 20 years in federal prison after confessing to posting sexually explicit Internet pictures of a boy who was raped in an East Spokane apartment.
Timothy S. Oakes was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Lonny Suko after earlier pleading guilty to separate counts of producing and distributing child pornography between May 2003 and March 17, 2004.
His posting of the sexually explicit pictures of the boy on the Internet allegedly prompted another pedophile from Oregon to travel to Spokane last June and July to engage in sex acts with the same boy, authorities said.
Gilo A. Tunno, is scheduled to stand trial Feb. 14 in U.S. District Court in Spokane. He is charged in a grand jury indictment with two counts of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and a third count of sexual exploitation of a child.
The arrests of both Oakes and Tunno were part of “Operation Predator,” an ongoing investigation by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is among the federal agencies that conduct Internet investigations.
“This overarching investigation is part of a nationwide initiative to track, arrest and bring to justice those individuals who are actively involved in the exploitation of children,” U.S. Attorney Jim McDevitt said.
“We are dedicated to protecting children from abuse and exploitation, and will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who victimize children through interstate travel or by use of the Internet,” the federal prosecutor said.
Oakes pleaded guilty in November to the federal child pornography charges associated with the boy, the son of his female companion at the time of the offenses.
The 39-year-old defendant could have faced a minimum of 25 years in prison if the case had gone to trial and a jury returned a conviction.
His plea agreement, which avoided putting the 8-year-old victim on the witness stand, gave Oakes credit for “acceptance of responsibility” and resulted in the 20-year term. He could be called as a witness against Tunno if he stands trial.
Oakes, who had recently moved to Spokane, was arrested last July by Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after that federal agency received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The center contacted federal investigators after receiving a tip that sexually explicit pictures of the boy had been posted on an Internet user group’s site.
Initially, federal investigators said they had evidence Oakes sent live “streaming video” over the Internet as he raped the young boy in the Spokane apartment.
Oakes, however, was only charged with posting still photographs of the child on the Internet.