Nevada Appeal Capitol Bureau
Sunday, November 7, 2021
James Patrick Burns, 53, will face trial beginning Jan. 3 on multiple charges of child sex pornography, according to a news release from Nevada’s U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Burns, of Reno, is charged with threatening two children on social media to coerce them into producing multiple images and videos of child pornography.
The federal charges say he then advertised and distributed those images online.
Burns is already registered as a sex offender because of a previous conviction.
If convicted, Burns faces a statutory maximum penalty of 50 years in prison for each of the two counts of child sexual exploitation. He is also charged with distributing and receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.
The trial is scheduled before Chief U.S. District Judge Miranda M. Du.
This case was investigated by the Northern Nevada Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, FBI, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, Sparks Police Department, Nevada Attorney General’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andolyn Johnson is prosecuting the case.
