Post Falls Man Indicted for Sexual Exploitation of a Child, Distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Materials, and Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Materials

COEUR D’ALENE – A federal grand jury in Coeur d’Alene returned an indictment today charging Zachary Dean Perpinan, 26, with Sexual Exploitation of a Child, Distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Materials, and Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Materials, U.S. Attorney Bart Davis announced today.

According to court records, the investigation began with a Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), undercover operation on the dark web. During the operation, investigators identified an individual who was posting images of child sexual abuse material on the dark web.  In some online postings, the individual wrote that the child was five years old, and in other posts, the individual wrote that the child was six years old. Investigators traced the source of the images to the Defendant’s residence in Post Falls, Idaho.

Working alongside the Post Falls Police Department, HSI executed a federal search warrant at the Defendant’s residence on October 10, 2025. They found the Defendant and a six-year-old girl at the residence. Law enforcement removed the Defendant and arrested him. They also seized multiple electronic devices from the Defendant’s residence and determined that they contained numerous child sexual abuse materials, including several images and videos of the six-year-old child.

If convicted, Perpinan faces a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 30 years in federal prison for Sexual Exploitation of a Child, a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 20 years in prison for Distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Materials, and a maximum of 20 years in prison for Possession of Child Sexual Abuse materials.  A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Davis made the announcement and commended the excellent work of the Post Falls Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, which led to the charges.

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 Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) of the Department of Justice, 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.justice.gov/psc.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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