Date: 06-24-2016

Case Style: United States of America v. Kyla Norby

Case Number: 5:16-cr-02815-VJ1

Judge: VJI

Court: United States District Court for the District of New Mexico (Dona Ana County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Marisa A Lizarraga

Defendant's Attorney: Jane Greek

Description: Las Cruces, NM - Lea County Woman Pleads Guilty to Federal Production of Child Pornography Charge

Defendant Prosecuted Under Project Safe Childhood; Plea Agreement Requires Imposition of 15 Year Prison Sentence

Kyla Norby, 27, of Hobbs, N.M., pled guilty in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to a production of child pornography charge. Under the terms of her plea agreement, Norby will be sentenced to 15 years in federal prison followed by 15 years of supervised release. Norby also will be required to register as a sex offender when she completes her prison sentence. The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, Special Agent in Charge Waldemar Rodriguez of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso, and Lea County Sheriff Steve Ackerman.

Norby was arrested on Jan. 8, 2016, on a criminal complaint alleging that Norby produced and distributed child pornography between May 1, 2015 and Dec. 30, 2015, in Lea County, N.M. According to the criminal complaint, the investigation into Norby was initiated after Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents from Laredo, Tex., arrested a man in Odessa, Tex., who revealed that Norby made a two-year old child sexually available to him. A search of the man’s smartphone revealed photos of Norby, including images consistent with child pornography, that Norby sent to the man from her smartphone.

During today’s proceedings, Norby pled guilty to a felony information charging her with production of child pornography. In her plea agreement, Norby admitted that on Oct. 25, 2015, she used a smartphone to take a sexually explicit photograph of a toddler with the intention of sharing the photograph with an individual in Texas.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of HSI and the Lea Country Sheriff’s Office, both members of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, with assistance from HSI in Laredo, Texas. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa A. Lizarraga of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.

This case is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ [external link].

The case was brought as a part of the New Mexico ICAC Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico. There are 82 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the Office of the New Mexico Attorney General. Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.

Outcome: Norby will be sentenced to 15 years in federal prison followed by 15 years of supervised release.

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