West Texas man sentenced to 151 months in federal prison for downloading child pornography

LUBBOCK, Texas – A west Texas man was sentenced Friday to 151 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release, following his July guilty plea to receiving child pornography.

U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings ordered Tomas Briones, 33, of San Angelo, Texas, who has been on bond since June 2012, to begin serving his term of imprisonment Dec. 7. This sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

According to documents filed in the case, Briones installed a peer-to-peer file-sharing software program on his personal computer at his residence. Then he used the program to download images and videos, which included child pornography, to his computer.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Lubbock, Texas, prosecuted the case.

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-DHS-2ICE 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, at 1-800-843-5678.