Former Youth Minister Indicted On Child Pornography Charges

DALLAS — A former youth minister in Garland, Texas, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Dallas yesterday on child pornography offenses, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

Derek Hutter, 37, was charged with one count of attempted production of child pornography and one count of receipt of child pornography. He was arrested on those charges and entered a plea of not guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney on December 18, 2014.

Hutter worked as a youth minister at the South Garland Baptist Church.

The indictment alleges that on approximately August 14, 2014, Hutter sent an email to Jane Doe #1, a minor girl, requesting she take sexually explicit photos of herself and text them to him. The indictment further alleges that on approximately September 14, 2014, Hutter received images of child pornography on his email account.

An indictment is an accusation by a federal grand jury. A defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. If convicted, however, the statutory penalty for the attempted production count is not less than 15 or more than 30 years in federal prison and not less than five or more than 20 years on the receipt count. In addition, each count carries a maximum statutory fine of $250,000 and a lifetime of supervised release.

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.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) and the Garland Police Department investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks is in charge of the prosecution.