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

GREENVILLE, TEXAS, MAN SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON,
WITHOUT PAROLE, ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CONVICTIONS

DALLAS — Steve Kelby Samples, 50, of Greenville, Texas, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle to 240 months (20 years) in federal prison, following his convictions for transporting, shipping and possessing child pornography, announced James T. Jacks, acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. Judge Boyle also ordered that Samples serve a lifetime of supervised release.

The charges against Samples stem from an undercover FBI agent downloading child pornography images from Samples’ computer using Limewire file-sharing software on September 6, 2006. On January 25, 2007, federal agents executed a search warrant at Samples’ residence in Greenville and seized a computer containing child pornography.

Samples pled guilty to the possession charge in August 2008 and was convicted at trial the following month on the transportation and shipping charge.

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 was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aisha Saleem and Camille Sparks.

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