A Winters man was sentenced Tuesday to 13 years in prison for receiving child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
Michael Rea, 26, a registered sex offender with a history of failing to update his mandated registration information, was arrested in September 2013.
U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner said Rea was on probation for a prior failure to register when authorities found him living with a child at a location where he was not registered to live. A search of his belongings reportedly revealed a DVD containing six movies of children being sexually abused.
In federal custody since his arrest, Rea received a 13-year, one-month prison term from U.S. District Court Judge John A. Mendez, Wagner said.
Rea’s arrest was carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Sacramento Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) task force, a multijurisdictional agency comprising members of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the Sacramento Police Department, the Sacramento County Probation Department and the U.S. Marshals Service. The task force receives support from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The task force was created with grant funding from the state Office of Emergency Services.