North Texas man sentenced to 20 years following child pornography conviction

FORT WORTH, Texas - A north Texas man was sentenced on Monday by U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means to the maximum of 240 months (20 years) in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Saginaw Police Department and the Sansom Park Police Department.

Robert John Devalk, 38, of Saginaw, Texas, who pleaded guilty in November 2010 to one count of receiving child pornography, was also ordered to register as a sex offender and serve a lifetime of supervised release following his imprisonment. He has been in custody since his arrest in August 2010.

According to documents filed in the case, detectives with the Saginaw Police Department executed a search warrant at Devalk's residence on June 25, 2010. Officers discovered more than 100 images of child pornography after they forensically examined Devalk's computer and related storage. Devalk admitted that he knowingly received, via the Internet, images and videos of child pornography of children ranging as young as 10 years old engaged in posing and in sexual acts.

According to the affidavit filed with a criminal complaint, on June 24, 2010, a detective with the Saginaw Police Department advised that during an interview, a 16-year-old victim described details of sexual encounters with Devalk that occurred at the defendant's home. The victim stated that they had sexual intercourse and that Devalk video recorded a sexual encounter, and stored it on his computer. The victim was aware of the video recording because the victim could see the sexual encounter on the computer screen as it occurred.

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.