Sept. 21, 2011

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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Taylor Claunch, 22, of Corpus Christi, Texas, has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole for distribution of child pornography, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.

At a hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011, Senior United States District Judge John Rainey sentenced Claunch to a total of 121 months in federal prison without parole to be followed by a 12-year-term of supervised release. During the course of his term of supervised release, the court has ordered Claunch to comply with additional conditions designed to protect children and the community. Failure to abide by the conditions subjects Claunch to a possible additional prison term. Claunch was also been ordered to register as a sex offender.

Indicted in April 2011, Claunch pleaded guilty on June 20  to distributing child pornography admitting that in October 2010 he distributed child pornography via the Internet. According to the proffered evidence presented in the case at the time of re-arraignment, Claunch’s collection of child pornography consisted of images and videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Claunch possessed in excess of 720 images and videos of child pornography.

In deciding upon the sentence ultimately handed down, the court considered the need to protect the public from Claunch and deter others from engaging in similar criminal activity.

In federal custody since his arrest in April 2011, Claunch will remain in federal custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be designated in the near future.

The investigation leading to the charges against Claunch was conducted by special agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations and the Corpus Christi Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

This case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lance Duke and Lance Watt, was brought 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.