David Paul Roetcisoender, Child Pornography Distribution and Possession, Texas 2013

GALVESTON, Texas – A 73-year-old Pearland man has been ordered to federal prison following his convictions of distribution and possession of child pornography.

David Paul Roetcisoender, a resident of Pearland, has been convicted by a federal jury on August 28, 2013, following a two-day trial and approximately two hours of deliberation. In handing down the sentence, U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa, who presided over the trial, took into consideration his age as well as the large number of images involved and the length of time he was engaged in the activity.

Roetcisoender was then ordered to serve respective terms of 120 and 163 months for the possession and distribution convictions, which will be served concurrently for a total of 163 months in federal prison. He will then serve eight years of supervised release following completion of his prison term and will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.

During the trial, the jury heard testimony from a detective with the Pearland Police Department who explained how he discovered several videos of child pornography over the Internet which were later traced to a computer used by Roetcisoender. Evidence proved that on June 4, 2012, officers executed a search warrant at Roetcisoender’s residence in Pearland. At that time, an officer conducted a computer forensic preview which resulted in the discovery of thousands of images and videos of child pornography on a computer Roetcisoender used.

At the time of the search, testimony further revealed Roetcisoender admitted to downloading and viewing child pornography since the 1990s. The jury also heard that more than 2,000 videos and more than 100,000 images of child pornography were found on computers, hard drives, and other storage devices seized by officers and used by Roetcisoender.

The government proved that Roetcisoender not only possessed the child pornography but distributed it on at least two separate occasions. A Pearland computer forensic officer testified that the file-sharing program used by Roetcisoender contained data that specified which specific files had been downloaded by others over the Internet from Roetcisoender’s computer. Roetcisoender attempted to convince the jury that he did not knowingly distribute child pornography.

The jury disagreed and found him guilty on two counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. Roetcisoender was arrested on the federal charges on November 14, 2012. He has and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The Pearland Police Department investigated the case as part of the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. This case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Stabe, was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the federal government to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Roetcisoender, 73, of Pearland, has been ordered to federal prison following his convictions of distribution and possession of child pornography. He will serve 163 months in federal prison and eight years of supervised release following completion of his prison term and will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/pearland-septuagenarian-heads-prison-nearly-14-years-child-pornography-case