Federal Grand Jury Indicts San Angelo Man on Prepubescent Child Pornography Offense

LUBBOCK, Texas — Michael Patrick Redente, 39, of San Angelo, Texas, was charged in a federal indictment, returned last Wednesday, June 17, by a grand jury in Lubbock, Texas, with one count of possession of prepubescent child pornography, announced Acting U.S. Attorney John R. Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

The indictment alleges that on April 21, 2015, when Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant at his residence in San Angelo, Redente possessed a computer hard drive containing prepubescent child pornography. Redente appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Scott Frost in San Angelo today, and was ordered to remain in custody pending a detention hearing that will be scheduled for a later date in Lubbock.

A federal indictment is an accusation by a grand jury and a defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. If convicted, however, the statutory penalty for possession of prepubescent child pornography is a term of imprisonment of not more than 20 years, a fine of up to $250,000 and a term of supervised release of up to life.

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 is being conducted by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Goodfellow Air Force Base. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy is in charge of the prosecution.