Source: Office of United States Attorneys
RAPID CITY – United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Court Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Rapid City, South Dakota, man for Sexual Exploitation of a Minor. The sentencing took place on December 5, 2024.
Charles Martinez-Olson, 33, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $21,000 in restitution to his victims, a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund, and forfeit his cellular phone. Martinez-Olson will be required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
A federal grand jury indicted Martinez-Olson in October 2023. He pleaded guilty on September 23, 2024.
Between December 2020 and March 2023, Martinez-Olson used Snapchat to entice two female minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct so Martinez-Olson could record videos of their conduct. Both girls were unmistakably under the age of 12. Martinez-Olson routinely masturbated during these Snapchat video chats while the two female minors exposed their genitals. His Snapchat account contained several videos of the same two girls engaging in sexually explicit conduct at his direction and encouragement. Martinez-Olson also possessed 54 images and 22 videos of other children being sexually abused, including a video of a disabled boy being sexually assaulted.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
This case was investigated by the South Dakota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Knox prosecuted the case.
Martinez-Olson was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.