Santa Fe man convicted of producing child pornography

GALVESTON, Texas –A jury has convicted a 39-year-old Santa Fe resident guilty of production of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick. Gace previously pleaded guilty to distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography as well as attempted destruction of evidence.

The trial on the production charge began Monday, Nov. 18 and concluded the following day. The jury deliberated for approximately one hour before returning the guilty verdict for sexual exploitation of a child, otherwise known as production of child pornography.

During trial, the jury heard testimony from multiple law enforcement officers, Gace’s ex-wife and her husband. 

In October 2016, law enforcement received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) regarding a cyber-tip from a file sharing network regarding images and videos of child pornography. The investigation revealed the email and IP address of the file sharing account posting the images was associated with Gace. 

When law enforcement arrived to search his home, Gace attempted to douse his cellular phone under water in an attempt to prevent law enforcement from gaining access to its contents. Law enforcement thwarted the attempt, dried out the phone and were able to conduct a forensic analysis on it.

A forensic analysis of that device revealed hundreds of images and videos of child pornography. It also showed Gace used a messaging site to chat with other like-minded individuals to receive and distribute images and videos of child pornography. He also had another file sharing account previously unknown to law enforcement. 

Gace’s second file sharing account revealed hundreds more images and videos of child pornography, including images he produced of a minor girl under the age of 10 which was found in a folder titled “Zzzz never share.” Gace first captured images of the minor girl fully clothed, but progressed to producing photographs of the minor girl sleeping nude on the floor, seated naked on the floor with a vibrator next to her leg and an adult hand on her shoulder and eventually to the minor girl posing while nude in Gace’s bathtub. Within those later series of photographs, there were also images of Gace naked, standing and seated in his bathtub on the same day.  The minor appears to have taken the images.

Gace attempted to say the images not lewd and lascivious and should not be construed as child pornography. They were not convinced and convicted him as charged.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown presided over the trial and will impose sentencing Jan. 29, 2020. At that time, Gace faces a minimum of 15 and up to 30 years in federal prison.

He has been and will remain in custody pending that hearing.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations,  Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, police departments in Pearland, Galveston, Santa Fe, Webster and La Marque as well as the Jones Creek Marshals Office conducted the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zahra Jivani Fenelon and Stephanie Bauman prosecuted the case, which 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.”