United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

WICHITA COUNTY MAN ADMITS POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — Paul Wilkinson of Kamay, Texas, pled guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert K. Roach to one count of possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Wilkinson, 24, was arrested on July 31, 2008, on one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography outlined in a federal indictment that had been returned by a federal grand jury earlier in the month. He has been in custody since that time. He faces a maximum statutory sentence of ten years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to a lifetime of supervised release. He will be required to register as a sex offender.

According to documents filed in Court, in 2007, special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement received a lead through a national operation that Wilkinson purchased access to a known child pornography website in December 2006 and January 2007. Agents then went to his residence in Kamay. Wilkinson admitted that he had used a computer to access websites containing child pornography and gave agents several hard drives, disks, and several images of child pornography that he kept in his wallet. More than 600 images of child pornography were contained on one of the hard drives that was removed from Wilkinson’s computer. Some of the images depicted prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Wilkinson also admitted that he possessed sadistic images.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov

U.S. Attorney Roper commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aisha Saleem is prosecuting the case.

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