BEAUMONT, Texas - A 20-year-old Beaumont, Texas man has pleaded guilty to federal child exploitation charges in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.
Keith Dwayne Marks, Jr. pleaded guilty to production of child pornography today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Zack Hawthorn.
According to information presented in court, on May 21, 2014, law enforcement officers in Grand Prairie, Texas, were notified by a school nurse that a 10-year-old student had come to the nurse’s office feeling ill after receiving a photo on an instant messaging app of a male’s genitals. The student disclosed she had been communicating with the male through several instant messaging and internet video chats and that she knew him as Keith Marks from Beaumont, Texas. It was determined that Marks was a registered sex offender due to a June 3, 2013 conviction for possession of child pornography in Jefferson County, Texas. On Sep. 3, 2014, a search warrant was executed at Marks’s residence in Beaumont. During the search, law enforcement officers discovered images and a video containing child pornography. Further investigation enabled law enforcement officers to locate and identity of the 13-year-old child in those photos in the Houston area. The child confirmed Marks had coerced them into engaging in sexually explicit conduct while filming such conduct with a cellular phone. Marks was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 4, 2015.
Marks faces a minimum of 15 years and up to 30 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not been set.
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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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.projectsafechildhood.gov.
This case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Beaumont Police Department, the Grand Prairie Police Department and the Pearland Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randall L. Fluke and Marisa Miller.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
