Former Postal Employee Ordered To Prison For Possessing Child Pornography

HOUSTON – Brice Burns Davenport, 51, of Tomball, has been handed a federal prison sentence for possessing child pornography, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today. Davenport pleaded guilty March 25, 2013.

Today, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes sentenced Davenport to a term of 12 months and one day in prison to be immediately followed by eight years on supervised release during which time he is to receive counseling and must comply with sex offender registration requirements.

The investigation began in July 2012 when Houston postal inspectors received information from their Computer Crimes Unit regarding an apparent attempt to access child pornography via an official U.S. Postal Service (USPS) computer. Specifically, an individual using Davenport’s USPS logon credentials conducted Internet searches consistent with searches for child pornography between the dates of May 17, 2012 - June 20, 2012.

The Computer Crimes Unit monitored Internet traffic on the USPS computer assigned to the Plantersville Post Office where Davenport was employed as the acting postmaster. On or about Oct. 9, 2012, numerous images of apparent child pornography were obtained from the computer. Those images were submitted to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for review who reported many contained known child victims who have been previously identified by law enforcement child exploitation investigations.  

The investigation revealed Davenport accessed child pornography from the USPS computer located at the Plantersville Post Office. Davenport would enter search terms into the Yahoo image search engine which produced images depicting prepubescent and pubescent minor females and males displaying their genitals in a lewd and lascivious manner. It was determined Davenport was the only user to access the computer in question on dates where child pornography was searched for and found.

Davenport acknowledged using search terms which yielded child pornography. The computer was seized and forensic analysis revealed a total of approximately 52 images of child pornography involving the lascivious display of childrens’ genitals which Davenport found.

USPS - Office of Inspector General investigated.

This case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Stabe, 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 the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."