United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2009
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

FUGITIVE ARRESTED BY FBI PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES

DALLAS —Former Mesquite, Texas, resident, James Gregory Morris, who was arrested on Tuesday, September 29, 2009, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, by FBI agents and flown back to Dallas to face federal child pornography charges, pleaded not guilty to those charges this morning before Chief U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas and Robert E. Casey, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Dallas FBI. A trial date of December 7, 2009 was set. Morris will remain in federal custody.

The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in April 2009, charges Morris, 42, with two counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. It alleges that in September and October 2006, Morris downloaded images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct from the Internet onto his home computer.

An indictment is an accusation by a federal grand jury and a defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. The maximum statutory sentence for receipt of child pornography is not less than five or more than 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, per count, upon conviction. The maximum statutory sentence for the possession of child pornography count is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, upon conviction.

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 the Dallas Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks is in charge of the prosecution.

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