A west Texas math teacher is going to prison for 20 years for distributing images of child sexual abuse over a mobile messaging app, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency announced this month.
Albert Douglas Ackley, 60, of Valentine, Tex., was sentenced by a federal judge in Alpine, Tex., to 20 years in prison and 15 years of supervised probation on Jan. 24, ICE announced Feb. 1. An investigation initiated by the app resulted in Ackley's arrest March 15, 2022; he pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography Aug. 12, according to the announcement. Ackely was teaching seventh- through 12th-grade students "at an area public school," the announcement states.
Court documents report that when Ackley uploaded and shared 10 files showing child sexual abuse over the messaging app, it "flagged the files and sent them to the Internet Crimes Against Children database for law enforcement investigation. Special agents executed a search warrant at Ackley’s residence, where they found multiple devices containing prepubescent child sexual abuse material."
The investigation leading to the arrest and conviction of Ackley was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents with assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety (TDPS), ICE reports.
Francisco Burrola, HSI-El Paso special agent in charge, said in the announcement that HSI is "most appreciative of the collaborative partnership" with TDPS, which Burrola called a "force multiplier" in combating child-exploitation crimes.
"This sentence shows that HSI special agents are laser focused on doing our part to bring to justice those who victimize children," Burrola said in the report.
