Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts in Houston, Texas

May 6, 2007

UTPA PROFESSOR CONVICTED OF RECEIVING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

[MCALLEN, TX] – Brian S. Butler, a University of Texas-Pan American Professor, has been convicted of receiving child pornography, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

At a hearing today, Brian Butler, 49, of McAllen, Texas, pled guilty to receiving child pornography and admitted he accessed a child pornography website and downloaded images and videos of child pornography onto his home computer. A forensic examination of Butler’s home computers and external storage media, which were seized by FBI agents in February 2007, found more than 6,000 still images and more than 200 video clips of child pornography. The still images and video clips depicted adults engaged in various sexual acts with children ranging in age from seven to 10 years old with several images involving children less than five years of age. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children identified numerous known child victims within Butler’s child pornography collection.

Butler faces a maximum statutory sentence of twenty years in prison, and a lifetime term of supervised release following release from prison. Ordered to remain in custody without bond since his arrest in February, 2007, Butler will remain in federal custody pending a sentencing hearing set for July 19, 2007, before United States District Court Judge Ricardo H. Hinojosa.

next...»

[ Back to top ]