A Sacramento man, already in jail on state charges, was indicted today on federal child exploitation charges.
A federal grand jury in Sacramento returned a a three-count indictment charging Phillip J. Colwell, 52, with producing child pornography, transmitting obscene matter to a minor and using a cell phone to entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual conduct, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.
According to court documents filed in both state and federal court, Colwell in October 2011 allegedly engaged in a series of cell phone text conversations with a 14-year-old Sacramento boy, to whom he sent sexually explicit images and with whom he sought to engage in sexual conduct. Court documents also allege that Colwell encouraged the youth to produce sexually explicit images of himself to send to Colwell.
The indictment further alleges that in July 2011, Colwell produced sexually explicit images of a 16-year-old boy. Colwell is accused of engaging in sex acts with this boy, producing sexually explicit photos of the youth and uploading them to a website for purposes of promoting the commercial sex trafficking of the boy.
Colwell has not yet been arraigned on the federal charges. Officials said he is in the Sacramento County Jail awaiting resolution of similar state charges.
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