LOS ANGELES — A Southern California man pleaded guilty June 3 to federal criminal charges for knowingly distributing, receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material from his home. He also admitted to possessing hundreds of images and videos of sexually explicit material involving children, including infants and toddlers.
Herbert Redholtz, 74, of West Covina, pleaded guilty to five felonies, including two counts of distribution of child pornography, two counts of receipt of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography. Redholtz remains free on a $20,000 bond.
According to his plea agreement, from at least April 2014 to November 2014, Redholtz knowingly distributed, received and possessed child sexual abuse material using his personal email account. Specifically, he possessed hundreds of videos and images of child sexual abuse in this email account, which he accessed from his personal computer while at home.
Redholtz’s email account contained approximately 448 images and 109 videos depicting sexually explicit content involving children as well as 402 images and 25 videos depicting child erotica. The account also contained approximately 1,109 emails containing evidence of similar images sent to or from Redholtz’s email address.
Redholtz admitted in his plea agreement that he knew the production of such visual depictions involved minors, including victims under the age of 12 years old, being used for sexual acts, including infants and toddlers.
U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi scheduled an Oct. 7 sentencing hearing, at which time Redholtz will face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison for each child pornography distribution and receipt count, and a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each count charged.
Redholtz was charged in Los Angeles Superior Court after his arrest in March 2021 for allegedly possessing child sexual abuse material. That charge was dismissed so the federal case against Redholtz could proceed.
Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated this matter. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California is prosecuting this case.
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