United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

JUDGE ORDERS GRAPEVINE, TEXAS, MAN DETAINED
ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGE

FORT WORTH, Texas — At hearings held today in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth for Patrick Alan Callaway, 53, U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Bleil found probable cause and ordered that Callaway be detained, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Callaway, a resident of Grapevine, Texas, was arrested on Friday, November 20, 2009, at his apartment on a federal child pornography charge outlined in a criminal complaint filed the same day.

On Thursday, November 19, 2009, a federal search warrant was executed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at Callaway’s residence; he was home at the time. The affidavit filed with the complaint alleges that Callaway received child pornography from the Internet by using file sharing software. A preliminary examination of Callaway’s computer uncovered numerous video files depicting images of child pornography. A prepubescent female in one of the videos has been previously identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as an identified victim.

According the affidavit filed with the criminal complaint, the investigation of Callaway began when a member of the Plano Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division assigned to the FBI’s Dallas Innocent Images Task Force, was working undercover online to identify persons participating in the distribution of child pornography and sexual exploitation of children connected to the Gnutell network using Limewire P2P file sharing.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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

A federal complaint is a written statement of the essential facts of the offenses charged, and must be made under oath before a magistrate judge. A defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The U.S. Attorney’s office has 30 days to present the matter to a grand jury for indictment.

The matter is being investigated by ICE and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex C. Lewis.

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