East Texas man sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison for possessing child pornography

BEAUMONT, Texas – A local man was sentenced to 6 ½ years in federal prison Tuesday for child pornography violations, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales, Eastern District of Texas. The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Beaumont Police Department, and the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Shawn Suri, 37, pleaded guilty May 16 to possessing child pornography and was sentenced Sept. 4, to 78 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone.

According to court information, in September 2011, federal special agents and local officers executed a search warrant at Suri's Beaumont residence. During the search, special agents located and seized a laptop computer. Suri admitted that he used the Internet to download and view child pornography. A forensic examination of the computer revealed Suri possessed about 11,000 images and 1,000 videos of child pornography.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher T. Tortorice, Eastern District of Texas, prosecuted the case.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE 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, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.