Resident Sex Offender Also Indicted For Possession Of Child Pornography
The coronavirus outbreak has slowed down many aspects, but crimes, especially domestic and sexual crimes remain unaffected, and even may be on the rise as Americans are spending more time at home. In Texas, the Department of Justice remains steadfast and vigilant in protecting our loved ones and children from child predators.
Former Andrews Middle School Choir Director was sentenced to ninety seven months in federal prison for charges related to child pornography in Midland, TX, announces John F. Bash, United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas.
United States District Judge David Counts ordered that the fifty-five-year-old man to pay roughly sixty-thousand dollars in fines, fees and restitution costs. The judge also ordered that the man be placed on supervised release for ten years after release from prison. The man has been in custody since his arrest on the first of October.
The man plead guilty to one count of attempted receipt of child pornography in late November, and court records indicate the school’s software identified that the school-issued MacBook assigned to the man was being used to search for pornography off campus. The man later admitted to searching for child pornography daily, and that he used his school-issued MacBook to view and possess more than five thousand images depicting child pornography. Further, court records reveal that the man also admitted to inappropriate touching of four or more identified adolescent victims’ breasts and buttocks, in addition to a previous incident the man was accused of inappropriate touching a young student.
“Even amid the coronavirus pandemic, we are still achieving justice for our most vulnerable victims. This middle school choir director admitted to inappropriately touching multiple children and to using his school-issued computer to download massive amounts of child pornography. He will now spend 97 months in federal prison,” said U.S. Attorney Bash.
The Andrews Police Department investigated this case along with the Texas Rangers. Assistant U.S. Attorney Austin Berry prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Almost half way across the Lonestar state in a similar case, a sixty-year-old resident of Bowie County and Texarkana was indicted for the possession of child pornography announces Joseph D. Brown, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.
The federal grand jury returned the indictment naming the Bowie-county resident in mid-March. The man has made his first appearance in federal court, where the court determined that the man will be held in federal custody until resolution of his case.
As alleged in the indictment, the man possessed child pornography on a cellular phone on September 18 last year. Among other allegations within the indictment, several of the images of child pornography are alleged to be videos that depict the rape of a prepubescent minor, an infant, as well as a child restrained in bondage.
The man had been previously convicted of the same crime, possession of child pornography in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. In that case, as a result of his conviction, the man received a sentence of sixty seven months in federal prison and five years of supervised release. In addition, the man has charges pending against him for failing to comply with the registration requirements in Bowie County’s 202nd District.
The man faces a sentence of anywhere from ten to a maximum of twenty years in federal prison, in the event he is convicted.
Texarkana Resident Agency of the Dallas Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are currently assigned to investigating the case. Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan R. Hornok is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. Even during this nationwide effort against the corona outbreak, if you, friends, kids, or a family member see anything that could be child sexual exploitation or abuse, please visit the website of the Department of Justice or FBI to report the activity and obtain more information.
