North Texas man sentenced to nearly 7 years in federal prison for transporting and shipping child pornography

DALLAS — A north Texas man was sentenced Thursday to 80 months in federal prison following his guilty plea in September 2013 to one count of transporting and shipping child pornography.

U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade remanded Meliton Torres, 32, of Lancaster, Texas, who had been on bond, into custody.

This sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. This investigation was conducted by the Dallas Police Department's Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit, and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

According to plea documents filed in the case, Torres admitted using the Internet and file-sharing software to share and transmit images and video files of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In March 2012, an officer with the Dallas Police Department's ICAC Unit, working online in an undercover capacity, downloaded images and videos from Torres's shared files. On March 16, 2012, the Dallas Police Department executed a search warrant at Torres's residence and seized computers and computer media, which were then analyzed by the North Texas Regional Computer Forensic Lab. More than 200 images and videos of child pornography were on the seized media. Of those, 23 images and 18 videos depicted victims who have been identified.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks, Northern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.

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 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including producing and distributing online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking children. In fiscal year 2013, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.

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. 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.

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.