A Ranchester man on leave from military duty in Iraq pled not guilty during a hearing in federal court in Casper on Thursday to possessing and receiving child pornography on his computer equipment.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Shickich then released Ranchester resident Ricardo Gaona on a $20,000 bond with more than a dozen conditions, over the objection of an assistant U.S. attorney.

If convicted, Gaona faces between five and 30 years imprisonment, possible lifetime supervised release, and a $500,000 fine.

He is innocent until proven guilty.

The federal government has been increasing its efforts to target child pornography, which is regarded as a crime of violence because the victims are often brutalized and they are not capable of consenting to sexual activity.

This marks the first time Acting U.S. Attorney Jim Anderson has seen a case with child pornography being transferred between Wyoming and the Middle East, U.S. Attorney spokesman John Powell said Wednesday

State and federal agents arrested Gaona after an undercover investigation by the Wyoming Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, which works with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the FBI, according to the grand jury indictment on Monday.

An affidavit filed with the criminal complaint last week stated Gaona had an image of child pornography on Jan. 5, and had downloaded a movie of child pornography on Jan. 1 from the Middle East.

The ICAC task force obtained and executed a search warrant at a Ranchester residence, according to the affidavit.

After acknowledging his Miranda rights, Gaona acknowledged using a Dell laptop to intentionally receive child pornography but didn't know it was illegal, and then said he only received the child pornography to see why it was illegal, according to the complaint.

During the search another DCI agent found a laptop with more than 800 files in a folder matching a file list of known child pornography, according to the complaint.

Authorities took Gaona into custody.

Thursday, federal public defender Daniel Blythe agreed with a report submitted to Shickich that Gaona should be free on bond with an electronic monitoring device attached to his ankle.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Darrell Fun disagreed, saying Gaona is a flight risk because of the nature of the crime; the potential punishment of at least five years imprisonment if convicted on the count of receiving child pornography; his military training including escape, counterinsurgency techniques and advanced weapons training; and experience in crossing international borders.

Fun referred to Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean, who is accused of murdering another Marine and fleeing perhaps to Mexico as an example of what may happen.

Blythe responded that Gaona's military training doesn't mean he's going to use it to escape.

And Gaona isn't likely to flee because he has no criminal history, has exemplary military service, his family is in Wyoming and probably wouldn't have anywhere to go, Blythe said.

Shickich agreed to release Gaona next week, but warned him that violating any of the terms could add another 15 years to a prison sentence.

Besides the standard conditions of not violating laws and showing up for court hearings, Shickich required Gaona to live with his parents, have electronic monitoring, abide by an 8 p.m. curfew, not use alcohol, submit to substance testing, not use firearms, not use computers, not travel outside Wyoming, and not have contact with anyone under 18 with rare exceptions.

"Can you do this?" the judge asked.

"I'm tracking, sir," Gaona said.

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@trib.com.