West Texas man pleads guilty, faces up to 20 years in federal prison for possessing prepubescent child pornography

LUBBOCK, Texas — A 54-year-old west Texas man pleaded guilty Friday to one count of possessing prepubescent child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated.

Roberto Garcia, from Lubbock, Texas, who is on bond, faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release.  U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings ordered a presentence investigation report; a sentencing date will be set after that report is completed.

According to plea documents filed in the case, Garcia used a computer at his residence to, among other things, search for images and videos of child pornography.  During the course of his searches, Garcia located, downloaded and viewed numerous images and videos constituting child pornography. He saved the material onto the computer’s hard disk drive.  Some of the numerous images of child pornography that Garcia saved involved prepubescent minors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy, Northern District of Texas, is prosecuting 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 12,000 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 2014, 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.