United States Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña
Northern District of Texas

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

ALLEN, TEXAS, MAN SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON
FOR POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Defendant Must Also Pay $15,000 Fine

DALLAS, Texas — Allen, Texas, resident, Paul Cronin, 37, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade to sixty months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine, following his guilty plea in October 2011 to a felony Information charging possession of child pornography. Judge Kinkeade ordered that Cronin surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on February 29, 2012. Upon the completion of his sentence he will be deported to Australia.

According to documents in the case, in December 2009, a routine virus scan conducted on all computers at the Authentix location in Addison, Texas, where Cronin worked, revealed that Cronin’s office laptop computer contained folders with files names indicative of sex with underage girls. After further investigation, a forensic analysis of Cronin’s laptop computer revealed it contained at least nine videos and 64 images of sexually explicit conduct of prepubescent and pubescent minors. Cronin admitted that he downloaded the images, some of which were sadistic, from the Internet.

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 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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov

The case was investigated by the Addison Police Department and ICE Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks was in charge of the prosecution.

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