Former North Texas man pleads guilty to child pornography/obscenity offenses

DALLAS - A man, formerly from north Texas, pleaded guilty on Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma C. Ramirez to two felony child pornography/obscenity offenses, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

The case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Ennis Police Department.

Buddy Anderson, 39, and his wife, Sharon Lee Anderson, 38, formerly of Ennis, Texas, were arrested March 24 by ICE HSI agents in Las Vegas, Nev., on related charges outlined in a federal criminal complaint. After discovering they were under investigation, the Andersons fled to Nevada and substantially changed their appearance. Law enforcement located the couple at a homeless shelter and arrested them without incident. Both remain in federal custody.

Buddy Anderson pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography, which carries a statutory sentence of not less than 15 years or more than 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to a lifetime of supervised release. He also pleaded guilty to one count of producing obscene images of the sexual abuse of children, which carries a statutory sentence of not less than five years or more than 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to a lifetime of supervised release. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade on Sept. 14 at 9:30 a.m.

Sharon Anderson pleaded guilty April 19 to a one-count felony Information charging that she permitted the production of child pornography. She admitted that she allowed Buddy Anderson to take sexually explicit photographs of a 5-year-old girl. She faces a statutory sentence of not less than 15 or more than 30 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release. She is scheduled to be sentenced on July 18 by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey.

According to documents filed in the case, persons hired to clean an abandoned apartment on North Clay Street in Ennis discovered child pornography photographs on the apartment's porch that were discarded as garbage. Some of those photographs depicted a girl about 5-years-old posing in a sexually explicit manner.

Buddy Anderson admitted that, with Sharon's assistance, he took sexually explicit images of the 5-year-old girl which were intended to elicit a sexual response in the viewer, including Anderson and his wife. Buddy Anderson also admitted committing a sexual act on the girl. Anderson further admitted that he created a CD containing images of nude, prepubescent children, and that he possessed more than 100 still images and two videos of child pornography.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Camille Sparks and Lisa J. Miller, Northern District of Texas, are 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-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.