San Angelo Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charge
Faces 20 Years in Federal Prison
| U.S. Attorney’s Office February 04, 2010 |
LUBBOCK, TX—William Ray Nobles, 32, of San Angelo, Texas, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to one count of receipt of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Nobles has been in federal custody since his arrest in mid-October following the execution of a federal search warrant by FBI agents at his residence.
Nobles, who was charged in November 2009 in a superseding indictment with 10 counts of child pornography, child enticement, and child obscenity felony offenses, admitted in plea documents that he used various computers that he owned to download various forms of pornography, including child pornography, from the Internet.
According to those plea documents, Nobles and the government agree that a sentence of 240 months (20 years) is appropriate in this case. Nobles and the government also stipulate in those documents that Nobles has a prior conviction in Texas relating to sexual abuse or abusive sexual conduct involving a minor. The Court may either accept or reject the agreed-upon sentence.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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.
The case is being investigated by the FBI, the San Angelo, Texas Police Department, the Collin County, Texas, Sheriff's Office, and the St. Charles County, Missouri, Sheriff's Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy of the Lubbock, Texas U.S. Attorney’s Office, is in charge of the prosecution.