Brownsville Man Sentenced to Lengthy Prison Term for Possessing Child Pornography
Court Orders Restitution to be Paid to Exploited Child Depicted in Some of the Photographs

BROWNSVILLE, TX—David Kocaya, 54, of Brownsville, has been sentenced to prison for possessing more than 26,000 images of child pornography obtained via the Internet, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.

An FBI investigation furthered by the forensic expertise of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) resulted in the indictment of Kocaya in September 2009. On Oct. 27, 2009, he pleaded guilty—admitting he had used a peer-to-peer file sharing website to download more than 26,000 images of child pornography discovered on an external hard drive at his residence by FBI agents in June 2009. The images were found by ICE forensic examiners to depict infants (up to 2 years of age), toddlers (3 - 5 years of age), prepubescents (6 - 12 years of age), and adolescents (13 to 18 years of age). Bondage and bestiality were depicted in some of the images of the prepubescent children. Some of the photographs in Kocaya’s possession included a series of photographs of an exploited minor female which the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has identified. These photographs are referred to as the “Vicky” series. 

Today, after written victim impact statements from “Vicky” and her family were read into the record by the United States, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen sentenced Kocaya to 204 months in federal prison to be followed by a life-term of supervised release and further ordered Kocaya to pay $20,000 in restitution to the victim and her family.

Kocaya has been in federal custody and will remain in custody to serve his sentence.

This case was 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. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Megan Paulson.