United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

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

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

LUBBOCK MAN SENTENCED TO 87 MONTHS
IN FEDERAL PRISON, WITHOUT PAROLE,
FOR POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

United States Attorney Richard B. Roper announced that Michael R. Bennett has been sentenced by the Honorable Sam R. Cummings, United States District Judge, to 87 months imprisonment. Bennett, age 24, of Lubbock, pled guilty in September to one count of possession of child pornography. He has been on bond since his surrender to federal authorities in June 2006 but was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on February 8, 2007 to begin serving his prison sentence.

During an undercover operation, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) determined that Michael R. Bennett downloaded child pornography images from the Internet. A search warrant of Bennett’s home was obtained and law enforcement executed the search warrant on June 1, 2006. Bennett was not home at the time, but law enforcement seized a computer and CDs containing several images and videos of child pornography. Bennett spoke with the FBI later in the day and identified an image that he had downloaded from the Internet and saved to his computer, later saving it to a CD.

In documents filed in Court as part of Bennett’s plea, he admitted that he purchased a computer in November 2005 and used it to search the Internet for, and collect, both adult and child pornography. He admitted saving several images and videos of child pornography onto a CD.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the FBI and the Lubbock Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Steven M. Sucsy.

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