Former Middle School Employee Sentenced in Texas to 30 Years in Prison for Producing and Distributing Child Pornography

WASHINGTON—A Texas man was sentenced today to serve 30 years in prison for producing and distributing material relating to the sexual exploitation of children, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Robert Pitman.

Robert Ramos, Jr., 33, of Austin, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel in the Western District of Texas. In addition to his prison term, Judge Yeakel sentenced Ramos to serve 10 years of supervised release.

Ramos pleaded guilty on October 31, 2012, to one count of production of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography.

According to court documents and proceedings, Ramos, who was previously an assistant band director at Dessau Middle School in Pflugerville, Texas, admitted that he obtained sexually explicit images of a 13-year-old girl through communicating with her on Facebook using Facebook accounts that falsely portrayed him as a teenaged girl. Ramos admitted to distributing those images to Timothy Bek, a teacher in New York who was also contacting minor boys and girls for the purpose of obtaining sexually explicit images.

Ramos admitted at his plea hearing that he viewed via Internet webcam and saved to his computer a video of a 5-year-old girl being sexually abused by Jennifer Mahoney, of New Jersey.

Both Bek and Mahoney have been prosecuted in their respective jurisdictions for their criminal activities relating to child pornography. Bek was sentenced in the Western District of New York on May 23, 2012, to serve 30 years in prison for production and possession of child pornography. Mahoney was sentenced in the District of New Jersey on December 18, 2012, to serve 30 years in prison in for production of child pornography.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.justice.gov/psc.

This case was investigated by the FBI and CEOS. CEOS Trial Attorney Keith Becker and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Devlin of the Western District of Texas are prosecuting this case.