Dallas man sentenced to almost 17 years in prison for using social media to produce child pornography

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Dallas, Texas, man was sentenced to nearly 17 years in federal prison following his conviction for producing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the assistance of the Corpus Christi Police Department's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Daniel Fredrick Heidemann, 42, was sentenced to 200 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos. Additional information presented at the trial included victims from Ohio and Oregon. Heidemann must also serve 20 years of supervised release after he completes his prison term, during which time he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the Internet and registration as a sex offender. Heidemann admitted to posing as a young male in order to elicit sexually explicit photos from a juvenile female.

At the time of the plea, the court heard that in August 2014, authorities learned that a juvenile female had been communicating via cellular telephone text messages and several social media websites with an individual she believed was a juvenile male from Dallas. Heidemann was identified as the perpetrator and admitted to posing as a juvenile male and enticing the victim into sending him sexually explicit photographs of herself.

Authorities executed a search warrant at Heidemann's Dallas residence and seized several electronic media storage devices. Forensic examination led to the discovery of several photographs of the juvenile female that were sexually explicit in nature.

Heidemann was arrested on the federal charges in March 2015 and has been in custody since that time where he will remain pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugo R. Martinez, Southern 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 14,000 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 2015, nearly 2,400 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

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. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

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.