CALIFORNIA Online Child Predators 2013: Cruise Ship Entertainer Amado Nicholas Hernandez Sentenced to Eight Years in Federal Prison after child porn found on garage sale computer

On December 20th, 2013, Amado N. Hernandez, 34, a former resident of Chico, California, was sentenced by United States District Judge Garland E. Burrell, Jr. to eight years in prison for receipt of child pornography, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

In the summer of 2010 in Glenn County, California, a concerned citizen reported to law enforcement that he had found child pornography on a computer he had gotten for free at a garage sale. The computer initially appeared to be inoperable, but the citizen repaired it and discovered images of child pornography on the hard drive.

Hernandez

Judge Garland E. Burrell

The FBI conducted a forensic review of the computer, which showed that the Microsoft Windows software loaded on the computer was registered to the defendant. The computer also contained photographs of Hernandez.

The forensic review revealed that there were approximately 450 still images of child pornography and approximately 250 videos of child pornography on the abandoned computer. Many were downloaded by Hernandez using a peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

On January 2, 2011, the defendant was contacted in San Diego on the cruise ship where he worked. Law enforcement agents found child pornography on the laptop he had in his possession at that time.

Benjamin B. Wagner

Hernandez admitted that he had abandoned the other computer in Chico in 2009 before he left to work on the cruise ship. Hernandez, a pedophile who was employed by Celebrity Cruises as an audiovisual manager and provided onboard guest-entertainment services aboard the Constellation cruise ship.