Dallas Man Sentenced To Statutory Maximum Of 10 Years In Federal Prison For Possessing More Than 8000 Images Of Child Pornography

DALLAS — Howard Tyson, 45, of Dallas, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater to the statutory maximum of 10 years in federal prison, following his guilty plea in March 2013 to one count of possession of child pornography. He was remanded into custody after he entered that plea. 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, Tyson used a peer-to-peer file-sharing program to download child pornography from the internet onto his computer and his wife’s computer. When agents with the U.S. Secret Service executed a federal search warrant at his residence on July 26, 2011, Tyson admitted that he had been downloading child pornography for approximately one year. He said that he downloaded most of the child pornography onto his wife’s laptop computer. A forensic examination of both computers showed that the hard drives contained more than 8000 images and 20 videos of child pornography. Tyson acknowledged that some of the images were sadistic and that the images and videos were of real prepubescent and pubescent minors.

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 investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service and the Plano Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks prosecuted.