Federal grand jury indicts Dallas man on child pornography charges

DALLAS – A federal grand jury returned an indictment last week charging a local man with one count of shipping and transporting child pornography, and two counts of possessing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

Jeffrey Wayne Day, 24, has been in federal custody since his Sept. 2 arrest on related charges outlined in a federal criminal complaint. According to that complaint, a detective with the Dallas Police Department, who was investigating persons involved in sharing child pornography via a peer-to-peer network, found several files indicative of child pornography that he traced to Day. A search warrant was executed at Day's Dallas residence, and a forensic examination of the computer equipment seized revealed more than 20,000 images and videos of child pornography.

An indictment is an accusation by a federal grand jury and a defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. If convicted, however, the shipping and transporting count carries a statutory sentence of not less than five or more than 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to a lifetime of supervised release. Each possession count carries a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to a lifetime of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the Dallas Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks, Northern District of Texas, is in charge of the prosecution.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.