A jury in San Francisco found a 39-year-old Customs and Border Patrol agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security guilty of possession of child pornography on Thursday, according to the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
The San Francisco resident and Customs and Border Patrol agent, Gilbert Lam, was found guilty Thursday of possessing as many as 49 videos of suspected child pornography, San Francisco District Attorney’s Office spokesman Max Szabo said.
The investigation into allegations against Lam was the result of a tip provided by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which works to stop online predators.
In October 2011, based on the tip, law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at Lam’s home, Szabo said.
On hard drives in Lam’s bedroom, officers located multiple videos depicting child pornography. Officers seized the hard drives as well as computers, a cellphone and additional storage devices from Lam’s bedroom, according to Szabo.
Law enforcement authorities have since located some of the child victims in the videos that were in Lam’s possession, according to the district attorney’s office.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said this case involving exploitation of children is “acutely disturbing” and “particularly unsettling” because Lam was “capable of perpetrating such an egregious crime,” despite being employed as a sworn uniform member of the Department of Homeland Security.
Lam’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 14, 2015, in Department 18 at the San Francisco Hall of Justice, according to Szabo.
Hannah Albarazi, Bay City News
