Former north Texas church music minister sentenced to 5 years in federal prison following his guilty plea to child pornography charges

DALLAS - A former church music minister was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in federal prison, following his guilty plea in February 2010 to a two-count indictment charging felony child pornography offenses.

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).

Until shortly before his arrest in late November 2009, David Ray Gray, 61, was the Music Minister at the Mt. Olive Baptist Church near his residence in Scurry, Texas. On April 20, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade also ordered that Gray serve a 10-year term of supervised release following his incarceration. He must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on May 24.

Gray pleaded guilty to Count 1 of the indictment charging receipt and attempted receipt of child pornography, and Count 2 of the indictment charging possession of child pornography.

According to documents filed, on Sept. 11, 2009, Gray downloaded an image of child pornography from the Internet; and on Nov. 3, 2009, he possessed more than three visual depictions, including video files and still images, of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

According to the affidavit filed with the complaint, on Nov. 3, 2009, ICE HSI agents visited the Gray residence, based on a lead from the ICE Cyber Crimes Center, Child Exploitation Section. The lead concerned a target at the Gray residence who was purchasing subscriptions to a child pornography website via the Internet.

Gray admitted that he had viewed and downloaded child pornography pictures onto his personal computers and stated that he had purchased a 30-day subscription to a child pornography site. A search of his home computer and his church office computer both revealed images of child pornography.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason D. Schall, Northern District of Texas, prosecuted this case. 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-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.