West Texas man sentenced to nearly 13 years for receiving child pornography

LUBBOCK, Texas – A west Texas man was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 12 years and seven months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in January 2012 to one count of receiving child pornography. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

Judge Cummings also ordered that Clifford Ralph Blair, 58, of San Angelo, Texas, serve 10 years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment, which is to begin May 25.

Blair admitted that he downloaded images and videos of child pornography onto his personal computer by using a peer-to-peer file-sharing computer program.

The investigation was conducted by the following agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Lubbock Police Department's Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, and the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Lubbock, Texas, was 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 or by completing its online tip form. Both are 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.