Two-time child porn offender pleads in fed court
>> A 51-year-old Upland man pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to one count of possession of child pornography, as well as three counts of distribution and attempted distribution of child pornography.
James Traband, of the first block of Fourth Street, was on probation for similar offenses when he was arrested in July.
Traband pleaded guilty in 2015 to possession of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility. As part of that conviction, he was ordered to register as a sex offender and given five years of sex offender probation, according to online court records.
Adult Probation and Parole Officers conducted a home compliance check at Traband’s Upland residence July 9. As agents were knocking on Traband’s back and front doors, Agent Carissa Tillotson saw Traband enter a bathroom behind the kitchen and emerge about 10 seconds later.
A search of the bathroom uncovered a cell phone hidden inside a container of dry dog food, with a Facebook application that opened to a page with multiple pictures of shirtless adolescent males. Traband was taken into custody after allegedly admitting to Agent Justin Lewis that the phone contained child pornography.
“A forensic examination of the cellphone conducted by (county) Detective Chris Tankelewicz identified numerous images of child pornography, with the majority of the images depicting naked male children between 3 and 13-yearsold exposed in a sexual manner,” according to a release from Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland. “Some of the images depict the minor boys being sexually assaulted.”
Investigators also found Traband was portraying himself to be a 14-year-old boy in online discussions and had shared more than 25 images of child pornography with three other Facebook users.
The indictment Traband pleaded to Monday indicates he shared or attempted to share images with three others identified only by their initials on July 8 and 9. Copeland spokeswoman Emily Harris previously said search warrants had been conducted on those individuals, but all three are outside the United States and were referred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Traband is scheduled for sentencing in the federal case May 22 before Judge Harvey Bartle III. He is also scheduled for a status conference Feb. 25 in the Delaware County Common Pleas Court.