Federal judge sentences Farmers Branch, Texas, man to more than 11 years in federal prison on child pornography convictions

DALLAS - A north Texas man, who was convicted at trial in August on two counts of possessing child pornography, was sentenced on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O'Connor to 11 years and three months in federal prison and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

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

In April 2007, a federal grand jury in Dallas returned a one-count indictment against Tommy Dale Daniel, 62, of Farmers Branch, Texas, charging him with possessing child pornography. An arrest warrant was issued, but case agents learned that Daniel had sold his house, forwarded his mail and absconded. Nearly three years later, in March 2010, Daniel crossed the border from Mexico to San Ysidro, Calif. After he advised Border Patrol agents about a possible outstanding warrant, Daniel was arrested and transported to the Northern District of Texas. The government later superseded the indictment by adding a second count of possessing child pornography, and a notice of forfeiture. The government presented testimony at trial that when Daniel returned to the U.S., he told agents that he'd rather be in prison than in Mexico.

In late May 2006, while executing a search warrant in a computer-related investigation at Daniel's home, a detective with the Fort Worth Police Department discovered images of child pornography. The detective seized several computers from Daniel and, after a forensic examination, determined that Daniel had more than 700 images of child pornography on his hard drives.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aisha Saleem and Jason Schall, Northern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.

This investigation is 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-2ICE. 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.