United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas

MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2009
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

JOHNSON COUNTY MAN SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON
ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CONVICTION

DALLAS — Stephen Frances, 41, of Keene, Texas, who pleaded guilty to a felony child pornography offense, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey to the maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. At today’s sentencing hearing, Judge Godbey ordered that Frances’s federal sentence run concurrently with the state sentence Frances is currently serving in Texas for indecency with a child. Frances will have to register as a sex offender and was ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release.

Specifically, Frances pleaded guilty in July 2009 to one count of shipping and transporting child pornography. In documents filed with that plea, Frances admitted that in October 2007, he used the Internet and Google Hello software to send images that depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

On November 27, 2007, Inspectors with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) executed a search warrant at Frances’s residence in Keene and seized a computer. They also interviewed Frances who stated that he used Google Hello software to communicate with others and to trade images of child pornography.

A forensic exam of Frances’s computer revealed that it contained more than 600 images of child pornography. Frances also admitted that some of the child pornography images he possessed were sadistic images.

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

U.S. Attorney Jacks praised the investigative efforts of the USPIS, the Hood County District Attorney’s Office and the Keene Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aisha Saleem prosecuted the case.

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