A Cathedral City man pleaded guilty today to a felony charge of possessing child pornography and was immediately sentenced to three years probation and 269 days in the sheriff’s labor program.
John Fernando Botello, 62, was charged last September with eight felony counts of possession of matter showing a minor in a sex act and arrested the following month.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Victoria E. Cameron dismissed seven of the eight counts at the prosecution’s request as part of the plea deal, according to court records.
Botello was taken into custody by investigators from the Riverside County Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force following a year-long investigation conducted by Sexual Predator Internet Decoy Enforcement Team of Riverside.
Investigators discovered more than 2,600 images that had been in Botello’s possession on various media storage devices and computers, said John Hall, spokesman for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
Investigators found that Botello had been using peer-to-peer file-sharing software to gather the images, he said.
The SAFE Task Force is a collaboration of several law enforcement agencies in Riverside County.
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