James T. Jacks
Acting United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

TARRANT COUNTY MAN SENTENCED
TO MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON, WITHOUT PAROLE,
ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CONVICTION

FORT WORTH, Texas — James Randall Madewell, formerly of North Richland Hills, Texas, and recently a resident of Austin, Texas, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means to 87 months in prison, announced acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. He was also ordered to serve a ten-year period of supervised release and register as a sex offender. Madewell pled guilty in December to one count of receipt of child pornography and had been on pre-trial release. However, earlier this month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Bleil ruled that Madewell had violated the terms of his pre-trial release, revoked it, and remanded him into custody.

Madewell admitted that between March 5, 2004, and March 20, 2004, he used the Internet to download picture files of minor children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In May 2004, the FBI initiated an undercover investigation into Internet file sharing programs or “Peer to Peer” networks that allow an individual to share files with other individuals. The investigation revealed that a particular individual, James R. Madewell, had child pornography images on his computer.

On July 29, 2004, FBI Special Agents along with officers from the North Richland Hills Police Department executed a federal search warrant at Madewell’s residence. A forensic examination of his computer and related storage media was performed and agents discovered between 100 and 400 images of child pornography.

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

The case was investigated by the FBI and the North Richland Hills Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex C. Lewis.

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