United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2011
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

FORMER KAUFMAN COUNTY, TEXAS, CHURCH MUSIC MINISTER
SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON
ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CONVICTIONS

DALLAS — David Ray Gray, 61, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade to five years in federal prison, following his guilty plea in February 2010 to a two-count indictment charging felony child pornography offenses, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Until shortly before his arrest in late November 2009, Gray was the Music Minister at the Mt. Olive Baptist Church near his residence in Scurry, Texas. Today, Judge Kindeade also ordered that Gray serve a 10-year term of supervised release following his incarceration. He must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on May 24, 2011.

Gray pleaded guilty to Count 1 of the indictment charging receipt and attempted receipt of child pornography, and Count 2 of the indictment charging possession of child pornography. According to documents filed, on September 11, 2009, Gray downloaded an image of child pornography from the Internet, and on November 3, 2009, he possessed more than three visual depictions, including video files and still images, of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

According to the affidavit filed with the complaint, on November 3, 2009, agents with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) visited the Gray residence, based on a lead from the ICE Cyber Crimes Center, Child Exploitation Section. The lead concerned a target at the Gray residence who was purchasing subscriptions to a child pornography website via the Internet.

Gray admitted that he had viewed and downloaded child pornography pictures onto his personal computers and stated that he had purchased a 30-day subscription to a child pornography site. A search of his home computer and his church office computer both revealed images of child pornography.

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

The case was investigated by ICE HSI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aisha Saleem.

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