Federal grand jury indicts Pleasant Hill man on child pornography charges

A federal grand jury in Oakland has indicted a 29-year-old Pleasant Hill man on charges of producing and possessing child pornography, officials announced Friday.

United States Attorney David L. Anderson said in an announcement that Daniel Joseph Feliciano knowingly possessed child pornography and according to the indictment:

“(Feliciano allegedly) coerced a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct in order to produce a visual depiction of the conduct.”  

The case grew from tips sent last October and December to the CyberTipline, maintained online by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, that included reports from internet service providers to NCMEC and files from the accounts being reported.

The files, which included depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, were traced by investigators from the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to an email account and an IP address in Feliciano’s name.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release that in October:

“(Dropbox reported) 182 files, including three videos of prepubescent girls engaged in sexually explicit conduct.” 

Several tips were reported in December involving child pornography stored in a Google account, including two videos of a girl believed to be 9 or 10 years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Investigators traced that account to Feliciano as well.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Pleasant Hill Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lee is prosecuting the case.

Feliciano is next scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland at 1 p.m. Feb. 18.