Former Houston-area school bus driver sentenced to nearly 42 years in prison for producing and distributing child pornography

HOUSTON — A Houston-area man was sentenced Monday to nearly 42 years in federal prison for producing, possessing and distributing child pornography.

This lengthy sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas. This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with the assistance of the Galveston (Texas) Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Michael Lee Martinez, 46, of Galveston, was sentenced to 360 months for each of three counts of producing child pornography, which are to be served concurrently. He also was sentenced to 140 months for distributing child pornography, which is to be served consecutively to his production sentence. And he was sentenced to 120 months for possessing child pornography, which is to be served concurrently to the other sentences imposed.

In addition to the total 500 months in federal prison, U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks Jr. also sentenced Martinez to life on supervised release, during which time he must comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the Internet; he must also register as a sex offender. Martinez pleaded guilty to the charges Sept. 11, 2015. Martinez also still faces state charges in Galveston.

At the hearing, information was presented including evidence that Martinez produced numerous images to a website used by pedophiles to exchange child pornography. He possessed 140 videos and 394 images of child pornography on his cell phone, as well as 44 images and 1,261 videos in his emails. Martinez produced child pornography with two minor female relatives and a close friend of one of the relatives. All of these victims were under 16 years of age, including one being only 5 years old.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Hanks called Martinez’s actions horrible and selfish. “You destroyed the lives of three innocent children,” the court noted, “and society has to protect itself from people like you.”

Martinez came to the attention of law enforcement during HSI’s investigation of a particular website hosted outside the United States. The website was used by pedophiles who sexually exploit children and who want to connect with others to trade images of child pornography.

Martinez created an account on this website in May 2014, using the screen name “Mr. Happy” and indicated he loved girls 8 to 16 years old. His profile contained 37 albums with hundreds of images of child pornography. A review of his albums led law enforcement to believe Martinez was producing some of the images he had posted to the website. Law enforcement was able to identify his victims and learned Martinez was a school bus driver. There is no indication that any of this criminal behavior was connected to his employment, nor were any of his victims part of his bus route.

Martinez admitted to his criminal behavior, including stealing images from two of his victims’ cell phones. He turned his phone over to law enforcement and indicated they would find images of him sexually gratifying himself next to the head of one of the victims as well as an image of his face near her breasts while she slept.

Martinez was originally arrested by local authorities and later transferred to federal custody where he has been and will remain pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 14,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2015, nearly 2,400 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.