Abilene Man Sentenced to 120 Months in Federal Prison on Child Pornography Conviction

ABILENE, Texas — Jonathan Andrew Hydro, 59, of Abilene, Texas, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor to 120 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in April 2017 to one count of receipt of visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Hydro was also ordered to pay $5,000.00 in restitution. He has been in custody since the time of his arrest in February 2017.

According to documents filed in the case, on June 17, 2016, Hydro knowingly received, by way of the Internet, seven images which depict minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. At the time Hydro received the images he knew that at least one of the performers in each image was a minor and he knew that the visual depiction was of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s 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 sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Abilene Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy was in charge of the prosecution.

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