Houstonian imprisoned for two child pornography crimes

HOUSTON – A 51-year-old local man has been sentenced following his convictions of possession and distribution of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Amado Garcia III pleaded guilty June 9.

U.S. District Judge Charles Eskridge has now sentenced Garcia to 96 months for each count of distribution and possession of child pornography, which will run concurrently. He was further ordered to serve 10 years on supervised release following completion of his prison term. During that time, he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. Garcia will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.

Garcia came to the attention of law enforcement during communications in an online group with participants interested in the sexual abuse of children. In the group, he was found distributing videos of children under the age of 10 being sexually assaulted by adults.

During the investigation, authorities discovered 180 videos and 166 images of child pornography on multiple devices. The images depicted sexual abuse of babies, toddlers and sexual abuse of children involving bondage and sadomasochism.

Garcia was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender at a later date.

The FBI conducted the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kimberly Ann Leo and Anna Swanson prosecuted this case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section leads PSC, which marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and identifies and rescues victims. For more information about PSC, please visit DOJ’s PSC page. For more information about internet safety education, please visit the resources link on that page.