Dallas man pleads guilty to drug and child obscenity offenses

DALLAS — A 40-year-old Dallas man pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renée Harris Toliver, to three federal felony offenses in an investigation that began in January 2014 after law enforcement learned he was claiming packages containing anabolic steroids from a postal center in Dallas, Texas.

This guilty plea 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), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Texas police departments of Balch Springs and Dallas.

Nicholas Todd Freed was arrested by an HSI Task Force Officer Jan. 28 as he was attempting to claim a package containing anabolic steroids at the Deep Ellum Postal Center in Dallas. Pursuant to the arrest, law enforcement discovered Freed possessed a counterfeit U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) credential and badge. Freed was charged in a federal criminal complaint with attempting to possess anabolic steroids and falsely making, forging, counterfeiting and altering a USMS seal. Later, the investigation revealed that Freed also possessed numerous thumb drives containing images of minors engaging in obscene and sexually explicit conduct.

Freed pleaded guilty Nov. 25 to the following three-count superseding information:

• one count of attempting to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance,
• one count of possessing a document-making implement with intent that it be used to produce false documents, and
• one count of possessing obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children.

Freed faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for the controlled substance and obscenity conviction, and a maximum statutory penalty of 15 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine on the conviction for possessing the document-making implement. Sentencing is set for April 20 before U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay.

In early January 2014, CBP in San Francisco identified a U.S. Postal Service Express Mail parcel, arriving from Singapore as suspicious.  The parcel contained about 1087 grams of an oily liquid, later determined to contain an anabolic steroid. The parcel was addressed to JPEG Press, 3100 Main Street #1, Dallas, Texas 75226, which is the address of the Deep Ellum Postal Center.  CBP notified HSI in Dallas of the parcel and its contents.

The ensuing investigation determined that the account for the rental box at the postal center was opened with fictitious information, and the box frequently received similar packages.  On Jan. 28, 2014, when the HSI task force officer approached Freed who was at the postal center to pick up the package, he discovered Freed was carrying a USMS badge and apparent counterfeit USMS credentials identifying him as a USMS Chief Inspector.

Later that day during a consensual search at Freed’s residence, law enforcement seized computers and computer equipment as well as other items Freed used to make false government identification documents, including laminating materials, blank plastic cards the size of a driver’s license, pages of magnetic strips for the backs of identification cards, ink consistent with the Texas seal on state licenses and identifications cards, a laminating press, hologram materials of official government seals, pages of names and identities used to produce the false identifications, and head shots.

Upon further examination of the seized thumb drives, special agents discovered visual depictions of minors, including prepubescent minors, engaging in obscene and sexually explicit conduct.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Robinson, Northern District of Texas, is prosecuting 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 12,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, 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.