Repeat sex offender sentenced to nearly 20 years for distributing child pornography

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A repeat sex offender was sentenced on Wednesday to 19 years and seven months in federal prison for distributing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Jose Angel Moreno, Southern District of Texas. The investigation was conducted jointly by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Corpus Christi Police Department (CCPD).

Gary Daniel Beeman, 39, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack on Sept. 21, following his indictment in April. He pleaded guilty to the felony offense on July 13, admitting to distributing images and videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The charges against Beeman resulted from an investigation initiated on March 28 after a CCPD officer received information from a concerned citizen that Beeman may possess child pornography.

Agents with ICE HSI, along with detectives from the CCPD Internet Crimes against Children Task Force (CCPD-ICAC) contacted Beeman at his Corpus Christi home. During that meeting, Beeman's cell phone was found to contain child pornography. Beeman admitted to acquiring and possessing child pornography. The law enforcement officers discovered several books about how to photograph children and books which included accounts of child sexual abuse survivors during a search of Beeman's residence.

A forensic analysis of Beeman's cell phone and other Internet activity revealed that he possessed more than 2,000 images of child pornography, including subjects previously identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as known victims. The analysis also concluded that Beeman had sent images to another prior sex offender. Distribution of these images was the basis for Beeman's conviction, as well as federal charges brought in the Northern District of Texas against the recipient of the images.

Beeman was previously convicted of receiving child pornography in 2002 in federal court in Corpus Christi and served seven years in prison.

During sentencing, Judge Jack stressed the need to protect the public from Beeman and expressed concern that he would remain a danger to children for the rest of his life. In addition to the prison term, the court further ordered he remain supervised for the rest of his life. Beeman has been a registered sex offender since his 2002 conviction.

In custody since his April indictment, Beeman will remain in custody pending designation of a Bureau of Prisons facility where he will serve out his sentence.

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-2-ICE. 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.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Duke, Southern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.