Yuma resident to serve 25 years for child pornography

Aaron Louis Turk, 32, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for producing child pornography involving two minors, distributing child pornography, and possessing child pornography.

The Department of Justice said that in Turk’s plea agreement he admitted to producing and possessing illegal child pornography images of two toddler-age girls, along with other child pornography.

The DOJ said the toddlers were in Turk’s care when he produced the illegal images of them and Turk was first detected on a file sharing network which led to a federal search warrant being executed at his residence in Yuma, Ariz.

Turk allegedly ran a babysitting service at the residence he shared with his girlfriend when he was arrested in 2017.

Law enforcement seized a computer and a cell phone used by Turk, both of which contained child pornography images.

The court has also ordered Turk pay restitution to all identified victims, and serve a lifetime term of supervised release after his release from prison.

“The defendant’s lengthy sentence, in this case, is well-deserved,” stated First Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange. “The defendant’s reprehensible conduct targeted not only very young children but children who had been placed in his care. I would like to recognize and thank the Yuma Homeland Security Investigation agents whose hard work brought this predator to justice.”

“HSI Yuma will work tirelessly to investigate and bring to justice sexual predators like Mr. Turk who exploit our most vulnerable population,” said Scott Brown, special agent in charge for HSI Phoenix. “This sick and deviant behavior will not be tolerated by society. Thankfully the victims we rescued are out of harm’s way with the defendant serving a lengthy sentence.”