James T. Jacks
Acting United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

TARRANT COUNTY MAN ADMITS POSSESSING
MORE THAN 125,000 IMAGES OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

DALLAS — Paul Hicks, currently a resident of Bedford, Texas, pled guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor to one count of receipt of child pornography, announced acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Hicks, 67, faces a maximum statutory sentence of not less than five years nor more than 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a lifetime of supervised release. Hicks, who was detained, will be sentenced by Judge O’Connor on July 2, 2009.

Hicks admitted that on January 27, 2007, while he resided on Marsh Lane in Carrollton, Texas, his computer, storage media device, and CDs contained more than 125,000 images of child pornography. He admitted obtaining some of the images by subscribing to child pornography websites, downloading child pornography from those sites to his computer hard drive, and saving images on CD’s and other storage media. Hicks admitted that some of the images depicted prepubescent minors engaged in sexual acts, and some portrayed sadistic and/or masochistic conduct.

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 (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.projectsafechildhood.gov

The case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks is the prosecutor.

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