United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER SENTENCED TO
NEARLY 18 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON, WITHOUT PAROLE, FOR
POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

United States Attorney Richard B. Roper announced that Robert Charles Morris was sentenced today by the Honorable John McBryde, United States District Judge, to 210 months (17.5 years) imprisonment, without parole. In addition, Judge McBryde ordered that Morris serve a lifetime of supervised release following his incarceration. Morris pled guilty in federal court in July to one count of possession of child pornography.

Robert Charles Morris was convicted in December 2001 in the 29th District Court of Palo Pinto County, Texas, for the felony offense of possession of child pornography and was sentenced to ten years. That sentence was suspended, however, and he was placed on ten years community supervision (probation).

However, Morris is currently serving a twelve-year state sentence for his conviction, approximately two years ago, for sexual abuse of a child. Judge McBryde ordered that the federal sentence will run consecutive to his state sentence.

According to documents filed in Court, Morris admitted that in October 2004, he possessed three images of child pornography on the hard drive of his computer. Morris admitted that he downloaded these images from the Internet.

The three images depicted pictures of real children, identified by investigators.

U.S. Attorney Roper said, “This case demonstrates the Department’s commitment to ensure that children are safe from child predators. I’m committed to Project Safe Childhood and will continue to work to not only ensure that these predators are convicted of their atrocious crimes, but to ensure that we get the toughest penalties for the worst offenders.”

"Long prison sentences awarded to child molesters are the most effective deterrent for other such criminals who consider sexually abusing and exploiting children," said John Chakwin, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Dallas. "Under ICE's Operation Predator, our agents are committed to targeting these criminals who would harm the most innocent and most defenseless members of our society.”

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ronald C.H. Eddins.

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