Sugar Land Resident Ordered Detained on Child Pornography Charges

HOUSTON—Glenn Casey Portwood, 52, of Sugar Land, has been ordered held in custody pending trial on child pornography charges, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson.

Portwood was charged in a sealed indictment, returned March 20, 2014, with two counts of receipt of child pornography, one count of attempted distribution of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography. He was taken into custody Tuesday, April 2, 2014. Today, he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy, who found probably cause he committed the crimes charged against him. Judge Stacy further noted him to be a danger to the community and a flight risk and ordered he remain in federal custody pending further criminal proceedings. He is currently set for trial May 19, 2014.

Portwood came to the attention of law enforcement on September 12, 2012, when an officer was investigating peer-to-peer file sharing programs on the Internet. According to allegations, he determined that a computer was sharing child pornography and traced that computer to the Internet account of Portwood.

On September 26, 2012, officers executed a search warrant at Portwood’s house. At that time, officers found a Honda parked in the driveway which was registered to Portwood and inside its trunk was a black backpack, according to allegations. Officers allegedly discovered several CDs, an external hard drive, and two laptop computers inside the bag. According to the charges, one of the CDs was labeled “VCKY 2004” and officers found a folder named “Vicky” with movie files containing child pornography. Four of the CDs allegedly contained child pornography, while a fifth CD depicted adult pornography involving women who were sleeping or drugged, according to the charges. The “Vicky” series is a widely traded child pornography series on the Internet.

At the detention hearing today, the government contended that upon forensic examination, images of child pornography were found on both of the laptops, to include approximately 325 images and 70 videos of child pornography, along with approximately 2000 images of child erotica. In addition, the external hard drive was found to contain approximately 50,000 child pornography images and 1300 child pornography videos, according to the allegations. Officers allegedly found images and videos depicting babies and toddlers.

If convicted, Portwood faces a minimum of five and up to 20 years’ imprisonment for the receipt and distribution charges in addition to a maximum of 10 years on the possession charge. All charges, upon conviction, also carry a possible $250,000 fine. Upon completion of any prison term imposed, Portwood also faces a maximum of life on supervised release, during which the court can impose a number of special conditions designed to protect children and prohibit the use of the Internet.

The charges against Portwood are the result of an investigation conducted by the Sugar Land Police Department as part of the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI.

This case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Stabe, was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.