Dallas man sentenced to more than 5 years in federal prison on obscenity conviction

DALLAS — A Dallas man, who admitted committing a federal obscenity offense, was sentenced Friday to more than five years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater.

This sentence was announced by John Parker, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Garland Police Department investigated this case.

Jason Paul Roberts, 38, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison after pleading guilty in October 2013 to one count of attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor.  Roberts will be required to register as a sex offender.  He has been in custody since his arrest in September 2012 on a related federal indictment.

According to documents filed in the case, on Sept. 29, 2012, Roberts emailed a sexually explicit photo depicting a partially nude male to a minor girl whom he knew was under the age of 16.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks 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 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.