North Texas man pleads guilty to producing child pornography

FORT WORTH, Texas — A north Texas man pleaded guilty Friday to one count of producing child pornography.

Dwight L. Looney, 62, from Fort Worth, Texas, faces a statutory penalty of not less than 15 years or more than 30 years in federal prison, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to a lifetime of supervised release. He will remain in custody pending sentencing, which is set for Feb. 7 before U.S. District Judge John McBryde.

This guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. This investigation is being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Fort Worth Police Department.

According to the factual resume filed in the case, in May 2010, Looney knowingly used, persuaded and enticed "Jane Doe" to engage in sexually explicit conduct, and Looney used a digital camera to take a still image of that conduct. Jane Doe was younger than 16 years old at the time.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aisha Saleem, Northern District of Texas, is in charge of the prosecution.

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.