Ex-San Diego middle school teacher sentenced on child pornography charges

SAN DIEGO – A former San Diego middle school teacher was sentenced Monday to 70 months in federal prison on child pornography charges, following a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Timothy James Hensley, who formerly taught at Bell Middle School, pleaded guilty May 16 to a five-count indictment charging him with receipt and possession of child pornography. Following his release from prison, Hensley will be subject to five years’ supervised release and be required to register as a sex offender.

As part of his guilty plea, Hensley admitted receiving images of a minor female, approximately 10 years of age, engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He also admitted possessing a computer and computer disks containing images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The defendant was arrested by HSI special agents Jan. 15 following the execution of a federal search warrant at his residence.

This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood and HSI’s Operation Predator, nationwide initiatives launched to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 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, 1-800-843-5678.

Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the "resources" tab for information about Internet safety education.