MISSOULA – A Lolo man accused of distributing and receiving child pornography was indicted Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024.

U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich says Erik Robert Salazar, 29, pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography and receiving child pornography.

Salazar faces a mandatory sentence of five to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and no less than five years of supervised release for life on each charge.

Missoula County Sheriff’s Office Crimes Against Children detectives received a Cyber ​​Tipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in September 2023.

Prosecutors said the report came from Snapchat, which reported to NCMEC that a user — later identified as Salazar — uploaded two images of child sexual abuse material to their servers in August 2023.

According to a news release, detectives determined the Snapchat account belonged to Salazar and obtained the rest of his account.

Law enforcement officials also found that Salazar’s communications with other parties on Snapchat were “replete with contact with minor females” from September 2015 to October 2023.

Prosecutors say Salazar consistently requested images and videos from the minors he communicated with those minors engaged in sexually explicit behavior.

Some of the minors sent Salazar such images and videos in response to his requests. Salazar then used Snapchat to send some of these minors images and videos depicting other minors engaging in sexually explicit behavior.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto presided and a sentencing date in the case was set for March 13, 2025. Salazar was remanded pending further proceedings.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case, which was investigated by the FBI and the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office.