North Texas photographer indicted for child sexual exploitation violations

TYLER, Texas — A north Texas photographer was arrested Wednesday following his indictment on child sexual exploitation charges, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales, Eastern District of Texas.

This case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Texas Department of Public Safety's Criminal Investigations Division.

Todd Fleming, 53, from McKinney, Texas, was indicted by a federal grand jury April 17 and charged with 24 counts of sexually exploiting a child, and one count of possessing child pornography. He had his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge John D. Love April 24.

According to the indictment, from 1999 to 2007, Fleming coerced or persuaded minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of photographing such conduct.

If convicted, Fleming faces a minimum of 15 years in federal prison for each of the exploitation charges, and up to 10 years for the possession charge.

This case is being is being and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Kummerfeld, Eastern District of Texas.

An arrest, indictment, or complaint should not be considered as evidence of guilt; all persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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.