A registered sex offender from Colorado who sent sexually explicit pictures of a young girl via email to an undercover federal agent in Portland pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to two of the five child pornography-related charges against him.
David William Burkman, 30, of Cañon City, Colorado, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland to charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and transportation of child pornography as part of a plea agreement in which three related charges would be dismissed by the prosecution when he is sentenced.
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Burkman, who is also known as David Whiteraven, faces 25 to 50 years on the sexual exploitation charge and 15 to 40 years on the child pornography charge at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Jan. 29 before U.S. District Judge George Singal. At sentencing, a second charge of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second charge of transportation of child pornography and a charge of commission of a sex offense by a registered sex offender will be dismissed, according to the plea agreement filed with the court Monday.
Burkman was arrested in May in Colorado, and has been in federal custody since.
The federal agent in Portland, David Fife of the Department of Homeland Security, emailed Burkman on April 21 and 22 using two different undercover identities after finding Burkman’s profile on a password-protected website known for trading child pornography, according to court records.
Burkman sent Fife four sexually explicit images of a young girl between the ages of 4 and 6, including one in which a man could be seen in the picture, according to an affidavit Fife filed in federal court in Portland seeking a warrant for Burkman’s arrest.
In the emails that Burkman sent to the federal agent, he referred to the girl in the images as “somewhat adventurous … she is a spitfire” and said that he had “been active with her for about a year or so now,” according to court records.
Burkman is listed on the Colorado Sex Offender Registry. He was sentenced in 2008 in Colorado to serve five years for two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and was released early in 2011, according to court records.
Scott Dolan can be contacted at 791-6304 or at:
Twitter: scottddolan
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