December 19, 2014

Lubbock County Man Faces Up to 20 Years in Federal Prison for Possessing Prepubescent Child Pornography

LUBBOCK, TX—A 27—year-old Shallowater, Texas, man appeared in federal court today and pleaded guilty to one count of possession of prepubescent child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

Michael Wayne Brown, who is in custody, faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings ordered a presentence investigation report with a sentencing date to be set after the completion of that report. Brown was taken into custody last month during the investigation of the case, and remains in custody pending sentencing.

According to documents filed in the case, Brown owned various telephones and electronic devices, and he stored pornographic images on some of them, including an 8GB Sandisk memory card. On that memory card, Brown stored numerous images of child pornography, some of which involved prepubescent minors.

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 Lubbock Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy is prosecuting.