SHERMAN, Texas - A 40-year-old Wylie, Texas man has been sentenced to federal prison for child pornography violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston today.
Jesse McQuade pleaded guilty on Sep. 13, 2016, to possession of child pornography and was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant.
According to information presented in court, in April 2016, an undercover officer was conducting an investigation into the sharing of child pornography files on a peer-to-peer network. The officer downloaded a number of files of child pornography, which resolved to a computer user at McQuade's home in Wylie. A federal search warrant was executed on Aug. 9, 2016, during which agents seized digital media, including a 1TB hard drive that was found to contain child pornography. McQuade admitted that he knew that the items on the hard drive were child pornography, including files depicting prepubescent minors and sadistic/masochistic conduct.
This case was prosecuted 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 was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Plano Police Department and the Wylie Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Miller.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
