A 58-year-old Plains man who admitted to creating and transporting sexually explicit videos of an underage girl was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Missoula.
David Paul Farrar pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child and transportation of child pornography on Aug. 4. The sentence imposed by Judge Dana Christensen on Thursday also includes 10 years of supervised release.
According to charging documents, a friend discovered lewd photographs of a girl on an electronic storage device at Farrar’s home in Plains in June 2019, while Farrar was out of state. The friend alerted law enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) began to look into the case. HSI agents obtained a search warrant for Farrar’s residence and seized multiple computers and storage devices, some of which contained videos of the victim from 2013 or 2014. The videos include Farrar’s voice and images of his hand, and when confronted by law enforcement he admitted making them.
Further investigation showed that Farrar also possessed a video of two other underage girls and that he had electronically transferred that video to one of his computers.
“Homeland Security investigations (HSI) special agents are proud to work closely with the Sanders County Sheriff’s (Office) to target and arrest individuals who prey on women and children in what should be the safety of their own homes,” Steven Cagen, special agent in charge at HSI Denver, wrote in a press release. “Farrar’s sentencing sends a clear message, if you harm children, we will work tirelessly to find you and bring you to justice.”
The case against Farrar was initiated by the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood program in partnership with the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.