Dallas Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison on Child Porn Conviction

DALLAS — A Dallas man, Andrew Berko, 45, was sentenced this afternoon by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle to 20 years in federal prison following his guilty plea in May 2015 to one count of transporting and shipping child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Berko has been in custody since his arrest in April 2015 on a related federal criminal complaint.

According to documents filed in the case, the investigation began when a detective with the Sherman Police Department, who was investigating the sharing of child pornography on a file-sharing network called BitTorrent, identified 27 files matched to a law enforcement database as files containing child pornography.  The files were linked to an IP address later identified as Berko’s.

Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed a federal search warrant at Berko’s residence on March 31, 2015.  A forensic analysis of his computer they seized revealed 8190 images and 860 videos of child pornography, including more than 800 images and videos of infants and toddlers.  Some of the images and videos he collected depicted sadistic and/or violent content.

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.”

ICE HSI and the Sherman Police Department investigated.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Camille Sparks and Lori Walker prosecuted.

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