United States v. Charles James Thomas

Charles James Thomas appeals his conviction in a jury trial for three counts of violating the federal child pornography statutes, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2251-2252 (Supp. V 1987). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1982). We affirm.

BACKGROUND

From the evidence presented at trial, the jury could properly have found the following facts: In December 1986, Clark Color Laboratories (Clark), a mail order photo developing company in Maryland, received several rolls of film for developing in an envelope bearing a San Ysidro, California post office box return address. When Clark developed and printed these rolls, it found them to contain images of a girl approximately thirteen years old, engaged in sex acts with an adult male. Clark turned the negatives and prints over to the Postal Service, which conducted a controlled delivery to the San Ysidro post office. Postal inspectors arrested Thomas when he picked up the film. The inspectors subsequently found evidence linking Thomas to having shot and mailed, as well as to having received the film. Thomas was readily identifiable as the adult male in the pictures on whom the young girl was performing sex acts; pictures of Thomas’ wife were…