Architect Sentenced to Prison for Possessing Child Pornography

HOUSTON, TX—John Robert Dossey, 62, a Houston area architect, was sentenced to prison and ordered to register as a sex offender for possessing child pornography, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.

United States District Judge David Hittner sentenced Dossey this morning to 51 months in federal prison without parole to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, during which Dossey will be required to comply with a number of conditions designed to protect children and to limit his access to the Internet. Judge Hittner ordered Dossey to register as a sex offender.

Indicted in March 2010 following an investigation conducted by the FBI Innocence Lost Task Force which includes officers of the Houston Police Department, Dossey pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in July. At his re-arraignment hearing, the United States presented evidence which established that on March 25, 2009, Dossey was stopped by law enforcement in the company of a 16-year-old female. Dossey had paid this child to engage in various sex acts with him and to allow him to take sexually charged photographs of her. Further investigation led to the discovery of another 16-year-old female that Dossey had been paying for sex for approximately one year. This underage female was also photographed by Dossey. Dossey provided lingerie, would do the minor’s hair and make-up and then take photographs of the minor, some of which constituted child pornography.

Investigating agents and officers executed search warrants at Dossey’s home and his office seizing computers. An analysis conducted by the FBI’s Houston Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory found images of child pornography on one of the computers seized including photographs depicting one of the underage females with whom Dossey was having sexual relations.

Dossey has been in federal custody without bond since his March 2010 arrest and will remain in custody to serve his prison term.

This case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ 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 exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sherri L. Zack.