United States Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña
Northern District of Texas

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2011
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

FORMER SLATON, TEXAS, POLICE OFFICER IS
SENTENCED TO 70 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CONVICTION

LUBBOCK, Texas — Richard Lee Lewis, 50, of Slaton, Texas, who pleaded guilty in September 2011 to one count of receiving child pornography, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 70 months in federal prison, to be followed by a 10-year term of supervised release. Lewis is a former officer in the Slaton Police Department. Judge Cummings ordered that he surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on January 26, 2012. Today’s announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

According to documents filed in the case, Lewis admitted that while he lived in Slaton, Texas, he used peer-to-peer file-sharing programs to intentionally download images and videos, including child pornography, to his computer. On May 11, 2011, law enforcement officers executed a federal search warrant at his residence and seized approximately three computers, 80 CDs and 10 VHS tapes. A forensic examination of the computers revealed numerous images and videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

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 the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Lubbock Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Lubbock, Texas, prosecuted.

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