Credit: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Mississippi
A Brandon resident was sentenced to serve a total of 50 years in federal prison for production of child pornography and possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca, Special Agent in Charge, Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch.
Emilio Bellizzia a/k/a Juan Emilio Bellizzia, 44, a legal resident of the United States from Mexico, was sentenced on April 4, in U.S. District Court in Jackson.
Beginning in April 2021, and continuing through June 2021, FBI agents from Milwaukee and Jackson, along with the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, investigated groups of individuals who were engaged in the receipt, possession, distribution, and production of child sex abuse material. On Sept. 15, 2022, agents executed a federal search warrant at Bellizzia’s home in Brandon and found several electronic devices containing child pornography. Bellizzia attempted to flee to Mexico the following day.
Bellizzia was indicted by a federal grand jury and pleaded guilty on Jan. 6, to production of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
Bellizzia was sentenced to serve two concurrent 30 year sentences for two counts of production of child pornography and a consecutive sentence of 20 years to serve for possession of child pornography, for a total of 50 years, followed by a lifetime of supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Glenda R. Haynes prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
