Brownwood, Texas, Man Sentenced To 87 Months In Federal Prison On Federal Child Pornography Conviction

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Brian Bernard Willin, 48, of Brownwood, Texas, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 87 months in federal prison and 10 years of supervised release following his guilty plea in November 2012 to one count of receipt of child pornography and aiding and abetting, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. Willin was also ordered to pay $150,000 restitution to an individual who was depicted in an image Willin possessed.

Willin was indicted in August 2012 on four counts of receiving child pornography, one count of transporting child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. According to plea documents filed in the case, Willin admitted that he used a peer-to-peer file-sharing program that he had installed on his computer to download and view several images depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. He saved some of the material on his computer and onto a DVD.

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, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to 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 investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Brown County Sheriff’s Office.