Man Stored Child Pornography on Google Account, Sentenced to 14 Years in Federal Prison

SAN ANTONIO – A Maryland man was sentenced in a federal court in San Antonio today to 168 months in prison followed by 30 years of supervised release for the receipt of child pornography.

According to court documents, David Edward King, 59, of Ellicott City, Maryland, stored 504 videos and 2,050 images depicting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in Google applications while living in San Antonio.  A review of King’s cell phone revealed that he had received the illicit material, some of which involved prepubescent children, via the instant messaging applications ICQ and Telegram.  Google became aware of the CSAM being stored in their Google Photos and Google Drive infrastructure and filed a report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.   

King was arrested on March 1, 2022 and has remained in custody since.  He pleaded guilty to the charge in the indictment on Feb. 14, 2023.  In addition to his prison term and supervised release term, the judge ordered King to pay $95,000 in restitution to 19 separate victims.

“Individuals who seek out child pornography cause profound harm and further victimize those children by enabling the production of child sexual abuse material,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas.  “Thanks to the valuable work by our partners at Homeland Security Investigations, we continue to identify and prosecute these vile offenders who prey on children for sexual gratification.”

“The significant sentence imposed on David King sends a clear message that there are serious consequences for those individuals who exploit children.  King will serve the next 14 years in federal prison for his incomprehensible acts,” said Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee for HSI San Antonio Division. “We remain committed to working with our law enforcement partners to aggressively pursue those who victimize the most vulnerable members of our society, our children.”

HSI investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Thompson prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

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