North Texas convicted sex offender sentenced to 35 years in prison for distributing child pornography

FORT WORTH, Texas - A North Texas man was sentenced on Friday by U.S. District Judge John McBryde to 35 years in federal prison, following his guilty plea in February to one count of distributing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

In addition, Judge McBryde ordered that Anthony R. Sherley, 41, of Mineral Wells, Texas, who has been in federal custody since his arrest last December, serve a lifetime of supervised release following his release from prison.

According to documents filed in the case, Sherley used AOL to discuss and exchange images of child pornography of children under 6 years old. The investigation also revealed that Sherley was a convicted sex offender who had served 10 years in prison for an indecency with a child conviction in 1998. When a federal search warrant was executed at his residence in Mineral Wells last December, agents with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) located a collection of printed child pornography images and printed sex stories involving sex acts with prepubescent females.

ICE HSI and the Dallas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Lewis, Northern District of Texas, prosecuted.

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.