D O J Seal
U.S. Department of Justice

James T. Jacks
Acting United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

 

 

 
 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA INQUIRIES: KATHY COLVIN
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009
WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/TXN

PHONE: (214)659-8600
FAX: (214) 767-2898

 

 

FEDERAL JUDGE SENTENCES WEST TEXAS MAN
TO 6 ½ YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CONVICTION

LUBBOCK, Texas — Rory Dale Worthan, 43, of Big Spring, Texas, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 78 months in prison to be followed by a 30-year term of supervised release, announced James T. Jacks, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. Judge Cummings remanded Worthan to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service at the conclusion of the hearing.

Worthan pled guilty in January to one count of possession of child pornography. He admitted that on February 8, 2007, he had an image of child pornography on his computer’s hard drive that he had downloaded from the Internet.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States 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 case was investigated by the Department of Justice - Office of Inspector General and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy of the Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Attorney's Office was the prosecutor.

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