Lubbock Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison on Federal Child Pornography Convictions

LUBBOCK, TX—Joshua Matthew Miranda, 29, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 240 months (20 years) in federal prison following his guilty plea in September 2013 to one count of receiving child pornography. Today’s announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

Miranda has been in custody since his arrest in the parking lot of a church in Lubbock, Texas, in early May 2013, after arranging to meet an undercover law enforcement officer who had posed as a 15-year-old girl with whom Miranda had exchanged e-mails of a sexual nature. According to the complaint filed in the case, at the time of his arrest, Miranda had a box in his vehicle that contained numerous sex toys, ropes, gags, a blind fold, duct tape, and condoms. A federal grand jury later charged Miranda with attempted enticement of a child, production of child pornography, and receipt and possession of child pornography. He pleaded guilty to the receipt count and received the statutory maximum for that offense.

After his arrest, a state search warrant was executed at his residence in Lubbock, and law enforcement located several images and videos of child pornography on Miranda’s computer. Miranda admitted that he downloaded from the Internet numerous child pornography images and videos, including videos of prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “Resources.”

The investigation was conducted by the Lubbock Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda R. Burch prosecuted.