United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas

TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 2010
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

TWO NORTHEAST TARRANT COUNTY MEN
INDICTED FOR POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

FORT WORTH, Texas — In separate, unrelated cases, two Northeast Tarrant County, Texas, men, Scott H. Denney, 48, of Keller, Texas, and William M. Fray, 57, of Grapevine, Texas, have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Fort Worth for possessing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks, of the Northern District of Texas. Both defendants appeared this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey L. Cureton, who ordered that each be released pending trial.

Each defendant is charged with one count of possession of child pornography. Denney’s trial date is set for August 16, 2010, before U.S. District Judge John McBryde. A trial date for Fray has not yet been set.

The indictment charging Denney alleges that in early March 2010, he possessed images and videos depicting minors, as young as infants, engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Evidence presented at this morning’s hearing revealed that Denney was employed as a mechanic for American Airlines and has served as a Boy Scout leader in Keller, Texas. Further evidence showed that he used a peer-to-peer software program to download child pornography to his computer.

The indictment charging Fray alleges that in June 2009, he possessed images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. At his hearing this morning, evidence was presented that he possessed hundreds of images of prepubescent girls engaged in sexually graphic conduct.

An indictment is an accusation by a federal grand jury and a defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. If convicted, however, each defendant faces a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release.

The cases are 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 U.S. 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 http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/

The cases are being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Keller Police Department and the Grapevine Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex C. Lewis, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Fort Worth, is in charge of the prosecution.

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