United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

PHYSICIAN WHO PRACTICED IN FORT WORTH SENTENCED
TO 42 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Defendant Will Face Deportation Proceedings Following Sentence

DALLAS — Dr. James Shin, a recent resident of Southlake, Texas, currently a resident of Houston, Texas, who pled guilty in July to possessing child pornography, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade to 42 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Dr. Shin, who is also known as Young Jin Shin and James Young-Jin Shin, was, according to the hospital’s website at the time he entered his guilty plea, the Chair of the Internal Medicine Department at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas.

Judge Kinkeade also ordered that Dr. Shin serve a lifetime of supervised release following his release from prison and register as a sex offender. He must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by January 6, 2009. Deportation proceedings for his return to South Korea will be held upon his release from prison.

According to documents filed in Court, Dr. Shin admitted that in September 2007, he used the Internet to download and possess images and videos of minor children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Based on an investigative lead from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cyber-crime unit in Washington, D.C., an ICE Special Agent visited the Shin residence in Southlake on September 13, 2007, and Dr. Shin agreed to allow the agents to search his computer. A forensic exam of the computer revealed numerous images and videos of child pornography, which included visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Shin admitted he knowingly possessed and acquired the images and videos of child pornography on his computer from public newsgroups on the Internet and that he did view child pornography. Some of the images of child pornography contained images of real children that have been identified through other law enforcement investigations throughout the nation.

“Although those convicted of possessing, transporting or producing child pornography come from all walks of life, their traumatized victims are from just one group — innocent children,” said John Chakwin Jr., special agent in charge of the ICE office of Investigations in Dallas. “Our ICE agents work closely with our law enforcement partners— including the U.S. Attorney’s Office — to give these children a voice, and to ensure that justice is served.” Chakwin oversees 128 counties in north Texas and the State of Oklahoma.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov

U.S. Attorney Roper commended the investigative efforts of ICE. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex C. Lewis prosecuted the case.

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