Former El Paso school district mechanic sentenced to 6 years following his guilty plea on child pornography charges

EL PASO, Texas — A former mechanic with the El Paso Independent School District was sentenced Friday to six years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release for receiving and possessing child pornography.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated this case.

In addition to the prison term, Jose Miranda, 46, is subject to an undetermined amount of restitution payable to the victims portrayed in the videos. U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo is expected to rule on the restitution matter in about 30 days.

On May 31, HSI El Paso Cyber Crimes Group special agents executed a search warrant at Miranda's residence and seized several computers and related equipment. According to court records, a forensics evaluation of the seized items revealed the presence of 5,342 videos and 133,345 images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

On Oct. 22, Miranda pleaded guilty to receiving and possessing child pornography.

Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Brandy Gardes prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

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 1-866-347-2423 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.

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.