Former Big Spring, Texas, Man Faces 10 Years In Federal Prison For E-Mailing Obscene Video To Undercover Law Enforcement Officer

Defendant Believed He Was Sending Video to a 15-Year-Old Girl

LUBBOCK, Texas — Paul Harvilicz, 62, of Copperas Cove, Texas, pleaded guilty today, before U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings, to a superseding indictment charging one count of attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor.  Judge Cummings ordered a presentence investigation report with a sentencing date to be set after the completion of that report.  Harvilicz, who has been in custody since he was arrested in Waco on March 27, 2013, on related charges, faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release.  Today’s announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

According to the factual resume filed in the case, from May 29, 2011, through mid-October 2011, while living in Big Spring, Texas, Harvilicz engaged in a series of communications using Yahoo! messaging and email with a person he believed to be a 15-year-old girl, who represented that she lived in Kentucky.  In fact, Harvilicz was actually communicating with a law enforcement officer in Kentucky.  On June 28, 2011, Harvilicz emailed this person an obscene video file, depicting an adult male and female engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.  For more information about Internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”      

The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Kenton County Police Department, Kenton County, Kentucky.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy is in charge of the prosecution.