United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2011
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

ENNIS, TEXAS, MAN SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS_IN FEDERAL PRISON ON
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY/OBSCENITY CONVICTIONS

Defendant Took Obscene Images of the Sexual Abuse of Children

DALLAS — Former Ennis, Texas, resident, Buddy Anderson, 39, who pleaded guilty in May 2011 to two felony child pornography/obscenity offenses, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey to 30 years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. In addition, Judge Godbey ordered that Anderson serve a lifetime of supervised release.

After discovering that they were under investigation, Anderson and his wife, Sharon Lee Anderson, 38, substantially changed their appearance and fled to Nevada. Law enforcement located the couple at a homeless shelter in Las Vegas and arrested them without incident. Sharon Anderson, who pleaded guilty in April 2011 to one count of permitting the production of child pornography, is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Godbey on October 3, 2011. Both remain in federal custody.

According to documents filed in the case, persons hired to clean an abandoned apartment on North Clay Street in Ennis discovered child pornography photographs on the apartment’s porch that were discarded as garbage. Some of those photographs depicted a female child, approximately five-years-old, posing in a sexually explicit manner.

Buddy Anderson admitted that with Sharon’s assistance, he took sexually explicit images of the five-year-old female child which were intended to elicit a sexual response in the viewer - including Anderson and his wife. Buddy Anderson also admitted committing a sexual act on the female child. Anderson further admitted that he created a CD containing images of nude, prepubescent children and that he possessed more than 100 still images and two videos of child pornography.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov

The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Ennis Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Camille Sparks and Lisa J. Miller were in charge of the prosecution.

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