Former West Texas man sentenced to nearly 16 years in federal prison on child pornography conviction

LUBBOCK, Texas — A former West Texas resident was sentenced Friday by Senior U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 188 months in federal prison.

This sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas. This investigation was conducted by the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Texas Department of Public Safety.

According to documents filed in the case, Jeffrey Neal Cuddington, 38, formerly of San Angelo, Texas, who most recently resided in Maryland, Virginia, used his computers to search on the internet for images and videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He saved the images that he downloaded from the internet. On Oct. 11, 2012, Cuddington distributed three images and received one image, all of which depict prepubescent girls engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Cuddington pleaded guilty in December 2016 to one count of receiving and distributing child pornography.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy, Northern District of Texas, was in charge of the prosecution.

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.