Christopher Gace, Production of Child Pornography, Texas 2020

Gace, Production of Child Pornography, Texas 2020

Sex Crimes

Grimy Times

GALVESTON, Texas – A chilling case of child exploitation has come to a close with a jury convicting 39-year-old Santa Fe resident, Christopher Gace, guilty of production of child pornography.

Gace’s downfall began in October 2016, when law enforcement received a cyber-tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) regarding a file sharing network posting images and videos of child pornography. The investigation revealed that the email and IP address associated with the file sharing account belonged to Gace.

When law enforcement arrived to search his home, Gace attempted to destroy evidence by dousing his cellular phone under water. However, authorities were able to thwart his attempt and recover the device, which led to a forensic analysis that revealed hundreds of images and videos of child pornography. The analysis also showed that Gace used a messaging site to chat with other like-minded individuals to receive and distribute images and videos of child pornography.

A further investigation revealed that Gace had a second file sharing account, previously unknown to law enforcement, which contained hundreds more images and videos of child pornography. This included images of a minor girl under the age of 10, which Gace had produced himself. The images showed the minor girl fully clothed, sleeping nude on the floor, seated naked on the floor with a vibrator next to her leg, and an adult hand on her shoulder. The minor girl also posed while nude in Gace’s bathtub, with Gace naked in the background.

In a shocking twist, Gace attempted to justify the images as not being lewd and lascivious, and therefore not child pornography. However, the jury was not convinced and convicted him as charged.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown will preside over the sentencing hearing on January 29, 2020, where Gace faces a minimum of 15 and up to 30 years in federal prison. He has been and will remain in custody pending the hearing.

The investigation was conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and police departments in Pearland, Galveston, Santa Fe, Webster, and La Marque, as well as the Jones Creek Marshals Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zahra Jivani Fenelon and Stephanie Bauman prosecuted the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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