ABILENE, TX—Rockey Koonce, 39, of Stamford, Texas, appeared yesterday in federal court in Abilene and pleaded guilty, before U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Scott Frost, to one count of receipt of child pornography. The announcement was made today by John Parker, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Koonce, who is on bond, faces a statutory penalty of not less than five, nor more than 20 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, and a lifetime of supervised release. Sentencing will be set at a later date.

According to documents filed in the case, Koonce used a laptop computer at his residence, connected to the Internet, to search for images and videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In May 2014, Koonce knowingly received a video file depicting a prepubescent female, under age 18, engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Koonce received the video through the use of peer-to-peer file sharing software.

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 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Wichita Falls Police Department, and the Stamford Police Department investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy is in charge of the prosecution.