North Texas man indicted on child sexual exploitation charges

PLANO, Texas — A North Texas man was indicted last week on child exploitation charges.

This indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown, Eastern District of Texas. This case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Carrollton (Texas) Police Department.

Joseph Patrick Mosher, 49, from Carrollton, Texas, was named in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury on Nov. 15, 2018, charging him with sexually exploiting a child. Mosher appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly Priest Johnson Nov. 19 and was ordered detained until trial.

According to the indictment, in September 2018, a teenager known to Mosher reported to school officials that he believed he had been secretly filmed in a bathroom of Mosher’s home. Carrollton police detectives executed a search warrant at the home and seized a number of hidden cameras and electronic devices. A forensic review of those devices revealed a number of videos of males captured in private spaces in the home. It appeared that the males did not know they were being recorded or that Mosher had obtained footage of them engaged in private or personal activities.

If convicted, Mosher faces a minimum of 15 years and up to 30 years in federal prison.

Any minors who may have had contact with Joseph Patrick Mosher or visited his home are urged to contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office at 1-800-804-3547. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will take the necessary steps to protect all minors’ identities and confidential information.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa J. Miller, Eastern District of Texas.

An indictment is not evidence of guilt; all persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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 16,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child exploitation material, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2017, more than 2,700 child predators were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 900 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.

HSI is a founding member 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.