ODESSA MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO
FEDERAL CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES
United States Attorney Johnny Sutton announced that 51-year-old
Jose Antonio Acosta of Odessa, Texas, pleaded guilty this afternoon to two
counts of transmitting video file images of child pornography over the Internet.
He faces a mandatory minimum of five years in federal prison, up to a maximum
of twenty years, on each count.
Appearing before United States Magistrate Judge L. Stuart Platt this afternoon,
Acosta admitted entering AOL chatrooms on October 6, 2005, and emailing sexually
graphic movie files to a person he thought shared his interest in such illicit
material. Unbeknownst to Acosta, the person to whom he sent the files was an
undercover FBI agent in Buffalo, New York. A multi-month investigation commenced,
culminating in the identification of Acosta as the perpetrator and the seizure
of his computers. Some of the images Acosta transmitted depict adults engaging
in sexual intercourse with children as young as three years old.
"Viewing and trading images of children being sexually abused is inexcusable," stated
United States Attorney Johnny Sutton noting that the damage to victims can
be devastating. "Those who trade these images create a demand for additional
explicit material and thus destroy the lives of more of our most innocent."
Mr. Sutton added that the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood
initiative gives law enforcement another tool to aggressively identify and
prosecute those deviants who exploit and abuse children.
Acosta has remained in jail since his arrest on March 24, 2006. He will be
sentenced in October.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation offices
in Buffalo and Midland. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States
Attorney John S. Klassen.
Project Safe Childhood is a new Department of Justice initiative that coordinates
Federal, State, and local law enforcement efforts to prosecute internet predators
and rescue their victims. Through cooperation with legal and community partners,
this initiative will help bring criminals to justice and protect the most
vulnerable members of our society. |
