DALLAS - A 35-year-old Dallas resident, Jeffrey Wyatt Savell, II, was sentenced this afternoon by U.S. District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn to 192 months in federal prison on a child pornography conviction, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.
Savell, who is in custody, pleaded guilty in March 2014 to one count of transporting and shipping child pornography.
According to documents filed in the case, the investigation began in April 2013 when a special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), working online in an undercover capacity, noticed that a computer with particular IP address traced to a location in Dallas was sharing more than 200 files, some with names indicative of child pornography.
After further investigation, a federal search warrant was obtained and executed at Savell’s residence in June 2013. Savell admitted using file-sharing networks to share files. He knew some of the videos depicted toddlers, but he was mostly interested in teens, primarily young boys.
A forensic examination of Savell’s laptop computers revealed more than 750 images and 250 videos of child pornography. That analysis also revealed that 14 of the files depicted sadism and/or masochism, and 22 files depicted infants or toddlers.
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 (HSI) investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks prosecuted.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
