Billings man sentenced to five years in prison for sending nude picture of himself to fictitious girl in undercover operation

BILLINGS — A Billings man who admitted to sending a nude picture of himself to a fictitious girl during an undercover sting operation was sentenced today to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

Martin Leo Jimenez, 28, pleaded guilty in May to attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor.

U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.

In court documents, the government alleged that in October 2021, law enforcement was conducting an undercover sting investigation to identify and arrest individuals who were attempting to have sex with children. Jimenez responded to an undercover post and began to correspond with a fictitious mother to arrange for a sexual encounter with the mother's fictitious 11-year-old daughter. During electronic communications with the undercover officer, Jimenez offered that he had “no age limits,” sent a nude picture of himself and discussed the various sexual acts he wanted to perform on the fictitious girl. The parties made plans to meet, and law enforcement arrested Jimenez when he arrived at the location. Jimenez later acknowledged that he intended to have sex with the mother and daughter.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno B. Baucus prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI, Billings Police Department, Yellowstone County Attorney's Office and Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office.