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Press Release

Pearland Man Gets Nearly 30 Years For Producing And Distributing Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Texas

GALVESTON, Texas – Travis James McReynolds, 32, of Pearland, has received a significant sentence following his two convictions of production and distribution of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson. McReynolds pleaded guilty Nov. 7, 2013.

Today, U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa handed McReynolds 351 and 60 months for the production and distribution convictions, respectively. The sentences will run concurrently. At the hearing, the victim’s mother testified about the impact this has had on her daughter and described how McReynolds took her innocence away. In handing down the sentence, Judge Costa took the crimes into consideration and noted how the defendant exploited someone who trusted him. Following completion of his prison term, McReynolds will be on supervised release for the rest of his life and will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.

McReynolds was chatting online with an undercover officer in New Mexico, during which the undercover officer received three images and several videos of child pornography. One of the videos appeared to be a webcam video of a minor female under the age of 13 who is seen lewdly displaying her genitals for the camera and digitally penetrating herself. Still images depicting minor girls displaying their genitals were also emailed to the undercover officer. The officer was able to determine the Internet Service Provider and traced the user to McReynold’s address in Pearland. The undercover officer received from McReynolds a short video clip of what turned out to be a young teen girl that McReynolds had produced himself. Based on this, the undercover officer contacted Galveston area law enforcement with the information.

On Oct. 20, 2012, a state search warrant was executed at the defendant?s apartment in Pearland, at which time two laptop computers were seized which revealed child pornography. Upon questioning, McReynolds admitted to obtaining child pornography by chatting with others over the Internet. Forensic analysis resulted in the discovery of approximately 132 images and 35 videos of child pornography on the two computers.
           
McReynolds will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The charges against McReynolds were the result of an investigation conducted by the Galveston and Albuquerque offices of  Homeland Security Investigations and the Pearland Police Department as part of the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

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."

Updated April 30, 2015