Big Spring, Texas, Man Pleads Guilty In Federal Court To Federal Child Pornography Offense

ABILENE, Texas — Aaron Charles Lustfeldt, 27, of Big Spring, Texas, appeared today in federal court, before U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Scott Frost, and pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of not less than five years or more than 20 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release. A sentencing date was not set. Today’s announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

According to documents filed in the case, on February 1, 2013, the Big Spring Police Department was dispatched to Comanche Trail Park in Big Spring regarding a male exposing himself to children in the play area. Officers located Lustfeldt, who admitted being in the park, but denied doing anything inappropriate, stating that he was not supposed to be at the park because he was a registered sex offender. Later, as part of their investigation, officers located images of child pornography on his cell phone, and Lustfeldt eventually admitted that he had received and downloaded images from the Internet onto his cell phone.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 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 is being investigated by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Big Spring Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Cunningham, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Lubbock, Texas, is in charge of the prosecution.