AMARILLO, TX—Brent Michael McClain, 39, of Amarillo, Texas, appeared today before U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson and pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography, announced John Parker, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

McClain, who remains on bond, faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. A sentencing date was not set.

According to plea documents filed in the case, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), working in an undercover capacity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing program, saw an invitation from an individual, later identified as McClain, and accepted that invitation. McClain initiated a chat conversation with the undercover agent and gave the undercover agent his password to share files on the P2P network.

The undercover agent browsed McClain’s shared folders and downloaded approximately 30 child pornography images and one child pornography video, including at least one image of a prepubescent male.

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 FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Hammer is in charge of the prosecution.