Two Men Convicted in Unrelated Cases for Producing and Distributing Child Porn Sentenced to Lengthy Federal Prison Sentences

FORT WORTH, Texas — Two men who were convicted in unrelated cases earlier this year on child pornography offenses have been sentenced to lengthy federal prison sentences by federal judges in Fort Worth, Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Today, U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor sentenced Ronald Eric Ary, 55, of Erath County, Texas, to 360 months in federal prison.  Ary pleaded guilty in September 2016 to one count of distributing child pornography.  He has been in custody since his arrest in July 2016 on a related federal criminal complaint.  According to documents filed in his case, Ary admitted that he used the Internet and an instant messaging application to distribute and trade child pornography, including a sexually explicit video of an infant child and adult man.  The FBI and the Erath County Sheriff’s Office investigated this case.

On Friday, December 30, 2016, Friday, U.S. District Judge John McBryde sentenced Robert Eugene Sanders, 74, of Hood County, Texas, to 360 months in federal prison, fined him $10,000, and ordered him to pay nearly $65,000 in restitution.  Sanders pleaded guilty in July 2016 to one count of production of child pornography, and he has been in custody since his arrest in May 2016 on a related federal criminal complaint.  According to documents filed in his case, in August 2011, Sanders knowingly used, persuaded, and induced two prepubescent female victims to engage in sexually explicit conduct that he photographed.  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Keller Police Department and the Hood County Sheriff’s Office investigated this case.

These cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 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.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Saleem prosecuted both cases.

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