Dallas computer repairman sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for transporting child pornography

DALLAS — A computer repairman from Dallas was sentenced Thursday following his January 2013 guilty plea to a felony child pornography offense.

This sentenced was announced by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated this case.

Andrew McMahon, 37, was sentenced July 10 by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O'Connor to 15 years in federal prison to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release. McMahon pleaded guilty to an information charging one count of transporting child pornography; he has been in custody since his guilty plea.

According to documents filed in the case, during an undercover investigation to identify persons using peer-to-peer file-sharing networks to distribute child pornography, an HSI special agent identified a computer with more than 300 files available for sharing that had files names indicative of child pornography.

A search warrant was executed at McMahon's Dallas residence in October 2012, and HSI special agents seized a significant amount of computer equipment and related storage media, including 45 hard drives. McMahon admitted he used the Internet and peer-to-peer file-sharing networks to view, download and distribute child pornography. He also admitted that he had more than 600 images and videos available to share on his file-sharing program. He advised that he had been downloading child pornography since the 1990s.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks, Northern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.

This investigation was conducted under HSI's Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including producing and distributing online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking children. In fiscal year 2013, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI's Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.