Palatka Man Indicted on Federal Child Pornography Charges

JACKSONVILLE, FL—United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces that Travis Rocky Dixon (34, Palatka) was indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday on child pornography charges. Dixon is charged with two counts of receiving child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. On each of the receipt counts, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. On the possession count, Dixon faces a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

According to the indictment, Travis Rocky Dixon received videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct over the Internet on two separate occasions. Further, he is alleged to have possessed videos of child pornography on a computer hard drive. Dixon was arrested at his residence in Palatka on April 3, 2012. His arraignment and detention hearing is scheduled for April 5, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. in Jacksonville before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas E. Morris.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, and the Clewiston Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case 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 the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc for more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”