Southeast Texas man pleads guilty to possessing child pornography

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A southeast Texas man pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to possessing child pornography.

This guilty plea was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez, Southern District of Texas. This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the assistance of the Corpus Christi Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

The investigation into Henry Franklin Reddick, 69, began after authorities received a CyberTipline report from The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The CyberTipline provides the public and electronic service providers with the ability to report online instances of child pornography. The CyberTipline report indicated that an individual, using the email address of hankreddick@aol.com, had uploaded 79 images of suspected child pornography onto an internet cloud storage service.

Law enforcement was able to determine Reddick was associated with that email address and, in April 2015, agents executed a search warrant at his residence. At that time, agents seized various electronic devices during the search. A forensic analysis of those devices revealed more than 450 images and 13 videos of child pornography.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 8 before U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos. At that time, Reddick faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine. Upon completion of any prison term imposed, Reddick also faces a maximum of life on supervised release, during which time the court can impose a number of special conditions designed to protect children and prohibit the use of the internet.

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.