Former Santa Fe Church Organist Sentenced on Child Porn Charges

By Mark Oswald
ABQ Journal
October 12, 2012

http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/10/11/abqnewsseeker/santa-fe-man-sentenced-on-child-porn-charges.html

Patrick Railsback

A federal judge this morning a federal judge sentenced Patrick Railsback, 62, of Santa Fe to a 7-and-a-half years in prison for his child pornography conviction.

Railsback will be on supervised release for 10 years after he completes his prison sentence. He also will be required to register as a sex offender.

A federal jury convicted Railsback on all counts of a seven-count indictment charging him with child pornography offenses on Sept. 16, 2011, following a two-day trial. Railsback has been in federal custody since the jury returned its guilty verdict.

Railsback was the organist for the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi before he was placed on administrative leave by the Santa Fe Archdiocese after the search of his home in January 2008, and was terminated in August of that year after five years of employment.

Railsback was arrested on Sept. 15, 2009, based on an indictment charging him with five counts of receipt of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and two counts of possession of child pornography. The indictment was the result of an investigation initiated by the New Mexico State Police and New Mexico Attorney General’s Office after America Online (AOL) notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an E-mail address subscribed to Railsback had been used to transmit child pornography.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the evidence at trial revealed that, on Oct. 2, 2007, AOL alerted the NCMEC that it had intercepted an e-mail containing an image of child pornography. Because the e-mail account was associated with a zip code in Santa Fe, the NCMEC contacted the attorney general’s office. After the AG’s office determined that the e-mail account was subscribed to Railsback, it referred the matter to the State Police.

On Jan. 10, 2008, State Police officers and law enforcement officers who participate in the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force executed a search warrant at Railsback’s residence and seized a computer and computer media. While the search was on-going, officers interviewed Railsback and he admitted possessing over a hundred images of child pornography on his computer that he had received by e-mail.

A forensic examination of Railsback’s computer and computer media confirmed that they contained images and videos of child pornography. Specifically, the examination revealed that there were 57 images and 16 videos of child pornography on Railsback’s computer and 28 images and one video of child pornography on his USB Drive. The Center for Missing and Exploited Children concluded that the pornography contained in Railsback’s computer and USB Drive included 13 images of 13 children who have been identified as child pornography victims and have been rescued, and eight videos of two children who have been identified as child pornography victims and have been rescued.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.