West Texas man sentenced to 4 years in prison on federal obscenity conviction

LUBBOCK, Texas – A west Texas man was sentenced Thursday to four years in federal prison and 10 years of supervised release following his guilty plea in March to one count of attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor.

This guilty plea was announced by 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 this case.

In late November 2012, HSI special agents noticed an advertisement posted on an Internet message board entitled "Looking for company 18-25ish –m4m," and determined that it was posted by Billy Ray Doyle, 59, of San Angelo, Texas. During ensuing email conversations between Doyle and an undercover special agent who posed as a 15-year-old boy, Doyle discussed such things as showering together, lying naked on a bed together, and possibly engaging in other sexual activity. The undercover special agent’s age was discussed several times and Doyle repeatedly promised that a potential sexual relationship would remain secret. On Dec. 15, 2012, Doyle emailed the undercover agent a sexually explicit photograph of himself. Doyle was arrested a few days later at a convenience store where he and the undercover special agent had agreed to meet. He has been in custody since that time.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy, Northern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.

The 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.