United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/
HOWARD COUNTY, TEXAS MAN SENTENCED TO 151 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CONVICTIONS
ABILENE, Texas — Harvey James Pelland, 76, of Big Spring, Texas, was sentenced Tuesday morning by U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis to 151 months in prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.
A federal jury convicted Pelland in March 2011 of two counts of possessing child pornography and five counts of receiving a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. At trial, the government presented evidence that in late March and early April 2009, while he was living in Big Spring, Pelland possessed images of child pornography and received images of child pornography from the Internet. He has been in custody since his arrest in April 2009 on a state charge of failure to register as a sex offender; he pleaded guilty to that offense in July 2009.
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 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Big Spring Police Department, and the Howard County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy and Deputy Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise Williams, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Lubbock, Texas, prosecuted the case.
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