Source: Office of United States Attorneys
MIAMI – A West Palm Beach federal judge has sentenced 38-year-old Texas man James William Latta to 20 years in prison followed by 25 years supervised release for advertising and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) through social media.
During the summer of 2024, Latta used a social networking application to communicate with a person he believed was the mother of an eight-year-old child. Latta sent sexually explicit videos of himself during the exchanges and asked about sex between the mother and child. Latta also created and operated chat rooms on the social networking application through which he distributed CSAM. In one chatroom – with dozens of members – Latta distributed CSAM more than 200 times over two months, posting a hyperlink to a website with more than 3,000 images and videos of CSAM. Latta was identified and arrested in Texas. After his arrest, he was transferred to the Southern District of Florida, where he pled guilty.
In addition to imposing prison and supervised release terms, District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks ordered Latta to register as a sex offender. A hearing will be scheduled to determine the amount of restitution Latta must pay his victims.
U.S. Attorney Hayden O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jose R. Figueroa of HSI Miami made the announcement.
HSI West Palm Beach investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Schiller is prosecuting it.
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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov or https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/project-safe-childhood.
Anyone with information regarding child sexual exploitation and abuse is encouraged to call (877) 4-HSI-TIP [(877) 447-4847].
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 24-cr-80115.
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