FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
| Date: | February 6, 2020 |
| Contact: | Emily Lowe Public Information Officer 208-287-7700 |
| RE: | State v. Gunnar Ericsson sentencing |
BOISE – A Boise man was sentenced Wednesday to serve up to 85 years in prison for sexual abuse of a minor and sexual exploitation of a child.
Gunnar Ericsson, 52, was arrested on a warrant in September 2018 following a yearlong investigation by the Boise Police Department. In October 2017, law enforcement received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an email account connected to Mr. Ericsson shared six videos of child pornography.
Police detectives investigating this case recognized Mr. Ericsson from a previous investigation in 2010 when a victim known to Mr. Ericsson reported he sexual abused her and took pictures of her, according to court documents. Mr. Ericsson was indicted for sexual abuse of a minor but detectives did not find the nude pictures the victim described. Before trial, the victim recanted the abuse and his charges were dismissed. It was later revealed to law enforcement in 2018 that Mr. Ericsson had intimidated the victim into recanting her report.
During the 2018 investigation, detectives found photos of that victim from 2010. It was found that Mr. Ericsson created a new persona of the victim and posted pictures of her to various pornography and modeling websites.
In addition, child pornography was found on the defendant’s computers including 144 bookmarked websites containing child exploitative material.
A jury found Mr. Ericsson guilty in November 2019 of sexual exploitation of a child and sexual abuse of a minor stemming from the 2010 incident.
The Ada County Prosecutor’s Office asked for an 85 year sentence, with 35 of those to be served before being eligible for parole.
Honorable District Judge Deborah Bail ordered Mr. Ericsson to serve 15 years fixed in prison with 70 years indeterminate to be served following that.
During sentencing, Judge Bail stated the case’s investigator noted it was the most extensive and elaborate collection of child pornography the investigator had seen and that Mr. Ericsson “fed the darkest parts of the dark web.”
Anyone with information regarding the exploitation of children is encouraged to contact their local law enforcement agency, the Idaho Attorney General’s Internet Against Crimes Unit at 208-947-8700 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678.