United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas

FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2011
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

HOWARD COUNTY, TEXAS, MAN SENTENCED TO MORE THAN 33 YEARS
IN FEDERAL PRISON ON FEDERAL CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CONVICTIONS

LUBBOCK, Texas — John Alan Conroy, 37, of Big Spring, Texas, who pleaded guilty in Dec. 2010 to one count of producing child pornography and one count of receiving a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 405 months in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. In addition, Judge Cummings ordered that Conroy, who has been in custody since his arrest in July 2010 on a related charge, serve a lifetime of supervised release following his imprisonment.

According to documents filed in the case, in 2009, Conroy lived with a woman and her two young children, Jane and John Doe, in Big Spring. Jane Doe turned eight years old during that year, and John Doe turned 10 years old that year. During part of the year, Conroy was unemployed. The mother of the children worked during the day, and Conroy often was left in charge of Jane Doe.

Conroy had purchased a laptop computer in approximately 2007, and beginning some time in 2007 or 2008, started using it to search the Internet for sexually explicit images and videos of children. He downloaded and collected numerous images and videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and stored the images on his computer and on various forms of storage media.

During 2009, when Jane Doe was seven years old, Conroy began showing her various images and videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Beginning in October 2009, Conroy began engaging in sexual contact with Jane Doe. Then, on December 27, 2009, Conroy used his Canon digital camera to produce sexually explicit videos of Jane Doe. The videos were produced in a residence in Big Spring.

 This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Big Spring Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Lubbock, Texas, was in charge of the prosecution.

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