VICTORIA LAWYER CONVICTED OF RECEIVING AND POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY VIA THE INTERNET AT HOME AND OFFICE

(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) – A Victoria, Texas, lawyer has been convicted of receiving child pornography via the Internet and now faces a substantial prison term and possibly a lifetime of supervised release, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.

Stephen Jabbour, 57, of Victoria, pleaded guilty today to possessing and receiving child pornography via the Internet during a hearing before Senior United States Judge Hayden Head.  Jabbour admitted he had possessed and received child pornography via newsgroups on the Internet in 2008. Today’s conviction is the result of an investigation conducted by special agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) and the Corpus Christi Police Department which concluded with the execution of search warrants at Jabbour’s home and law office in January 2010. That search lead to the discovery of hundreds of thousands of child pornography images and videos - many depicting sadism and masochism perpetrated on prepubescent child victims on several computers and other electronic storage media found in Jabbour’s home and law office. A superseding indictment was returned in October 2010 charging Jabbour with 13 counts - five counts of possessing child pornography in January 2010 and eight of receiving child pornography between August and November 2008. 

Jabbour faces no less than five years and a maximum of 20 years imprisonment for receiving child pornography and up to 10 years imprisonment for possessing child pornography and for both no less than five up to a lifetime of supervised release during which he would be required to comply with any number of conditions imposed by the court designed to limit Jabbour’s access to the Internet and to protect children and a fine of up to $250,000. Judge Head has set sentencing for March 31, 2011, at 9:00a.m.

Upon accepting the guilty plea and finding Jabbour guilty, Judge Head ordered Jabbour into the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending sentencing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Duke is prosecuting the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.

 

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