Columbia Falls man admits sexually exploiting child

A Columbia Falls man who admitted soliciting sexually explicit images of a minor girl through his Facebook account and mobile phone pleaded guilty on Monday to sexual exploitation of a child, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said in a press release.

Todd Louis Pajnich, 30, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Kathleen L. DeSoto, who will recommend his plea be accepted by Chief U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen, who is hearing the case.

Pajnich faces a minimum mandatory 15 to 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and at least five years to a lifetime of supervised release. Pajnich was detained, pending further proceedings. Sentencing was set for March 27, 2020.

In court records filed in the case, the prosecution said that beginning in January, Pajnich started communicating on Facebook with a 10-year-old girl. In April, Facebook reported potential online sexual exploitation involving the girl’s and Pajnich’s accounts. A law enforcement investigation found records in which Pajnich asked the girl her age and that she told him she was 13. Pajnich then asked the girl to send him sexually explicit images of herself. He sent the victim sexually explicit images of a male, purportedly of himself, and encouraged girl to send him sexually explicit images of herself, which she did. Pajnich admitted to law enforcement that he knew the victim was a child and that he solicited sexually explicit images of her.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee Peterson is prosecuting the case, which was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

This case was initiated under the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative, which was launched in 2006 to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. Through a network of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and advocacy organizations, Project Safe Childhood attempts to protect children by investigating and prosecuting offenders involved in child sexual exploitation. It is implemented through partnerships including the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The ICAC Task Force Program was created to assist state and local law enforcement agencies by enhancing their investigative response to technology facilitated crimes against children.

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Department commented on its Facebook page that it was an “excellent investigation by our local ICAC detectives.

“We are proud of the work they do to keep our community, especially our children, safe,” the Facebook post noted.

This is not Pajnich’s first run-in with the law. In 2014, he allegedly hit two people with a baseball bat after a dispute at his Columbia Falls home. More recently, he was given a 36-month deferred sentence to criminal possession of dangerous drugs from a charge in 2017.

According to state Department of Correction records, he is currently being held in the Missoula County Jail.