ABILENE, Texas - Jose Diego Gonzales, 30, of Fort Worth, Texas, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Conner to 240 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in September 2016 to one count of receipt of child pornography and aiding and abetting, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
Gonzales has been in custody since his arrest in July 2016 in Fort Worth.
According to documents filed in the case, in December 2015, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) learned that an individual, later identified at Gonzales, was using the free instant messenger software, Kik, and free public WiFi in Tye, Texas, to receive and distribute child pornography.
Special Agents with HSI executed a search warrant and obtained two cell phones; a forensic examination of one of the phones revealed 30 images of child pornography.
The investigation also identified a Dropbox file hosting service account that Gonzales used that also contained images of child pornography. In fact, the investigation revealed that the Dropbox account contained 56 images of child pornography and 279 videos of child pornography.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, tribal and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. To learn more about PSC’s work, please visit: https://www.justice.gov/psc.
ICE HSI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Juanita Fielden was in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
