West Texas man sentenced to 8 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography

LUBBOCK, Texas — A west Texas man was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 97 months in federal prison following his guilty plea in July to one count of possessing child pornography.

This sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Goodfellow Air Force Base.

Joshua I. Suter, 24, of San Angelo, Texas, has been in custody since his release was revoked earlier this month.

According to documents filed in the case, while living in San Angelo, Suter owned a computer that was connected to the Internet. In the course of using the Internet to search for depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, Suter downloaded and viewed numerous child pornography videos.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy, Northern District of Texas, prosecuted this 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 1-866-347-2423 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.