20-year sentence for molestation

A former resident of Mountain Center who was convicted of possessing child pornography and sexually abusing a child was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Monday.

James Sanders, 63, was found guilty last June of conspiring to possess child pornography, possession of child pornography, traveling from California to New Mexico for the purpose of engaging in a sexual act with a boy under 12, and aggravated sexual abuse of that same boy.

The victim, who was then 7, is the son of Sanders’ longtime friends.

Sanders’ arrest was the result of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into a Russian organization that produced and sold child pornography videos depicting graphic sexual abuse.

One of the original defendants -- a United States citizen who had purchased numerous pornography videos -- had numerous Internet communications with Sanders stored on his computer, which led authorities to Sanders and his computer, on which Sanders had stored child pornography.

In his communications, Sanders described, among other things, his sexual abuse of the boy. At the time, Sanders was the property manager of a girls’ camp.

-- Monte Morin