West Texas man sentenced to 9 years in federal prison for possessing prepubescent child pornography

ABILENE, Texas — A West Texas man was sentenced Wednesday by Chief U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis to nine years in federal prison following his guilty plea in July to an indictment charging one count of possessing prepubescent child pornography.

This sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney John Parker, Northern District of Texas.  This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Abilene Police Department.

David Scott Fikani, 62, from Abilene, has been in federal custody since September 2015 when U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Scott Frost determined Fikani violated certain terms of his pretrial release and ordered him detained.

According to plea documents filed in the case, Fikani used the computer at his residence to search the Internet for images and videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.  In the course of these searches, Fikani located, downloaded and viewed numerous images and videos constituting child pornography.  Some of those images involved prepubescent minors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy, Northern District of Texas, was in charge of the prosecution.

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.