Sacramento man sentenced for helping to run four sites on dark web featuring child porn
A Sacramento man was sentenced Thursday to more than two dozen years in federal prison for his role in maintaining and using dark web internet sites that distributed child pornography.
Louis Donald Mendonsa, 62, pleaded guilty in federal court in Sacramento last year to seven counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. He was sentenced on Thursday by Chief District Judge Troy Nunley to 24 years and four months in prison.
Authorities said Mendonsa helped to manage and maintain four dark web sites, all devoted to the distribution of child pornography. The sites were involved with advertising, distributing and exchanging videos depicting sexual abuse of children, some as young as infants and toddlers.
His electronic devices also contained 6,500 images of child pornography, acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith said in a news release on Thursday.
Mendonsa was arrested in November 2022. Upon sentencing Mendonsa, Nunley recommended that he be held at the federal prison at Terminal Island in California, court documents show. Mendonsa is due back in court in May for a restitution hearing, documents show.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with assistance from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the Sacramento Police Department and the U.S. Department of Justice.
