James Leland Copeland, Receiving Child Pornography, Texas 2013

Hallettsville Man Sentenced to 28 Years for Receiving Child Pornography

VICTORIA, Texas – James Leland Copeland, a 42-year-old resident of Hallettsville, has been sentenced to a significant term of federal imprisonment for receiving child pornography, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson.

Copeland pleaded guilty on May 10, 2013, and was subsequently sentenced to 28 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa.

The judge took into consideration the need to protect the public and deter future criminal behavior in the defendant and others. Copeland was further ordered to serve the rest of his life on supervised release following completion of the prison term.

Judge Costa noted Copeland’s recidivism and substantially greater role in the offense than the average child pornography recipient. The judge determined that Copeland, while not directly producing the child pornography he received himself, he nonetheless played a significant role in causing it to be produced.

Copeland will also be required to register as a sex offender. He was previously convicted of possession of child pornography in the Eastern District of Tennessee in 2004 and sentenced to 51 months in the Bureau of Prisons.

As a result of a federal arrest and search warrant, authorities searched Copeland’s residence on December 18, 2012, at which time several electronic storage devices and other written media were seized from the home. The Corpus Christi Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force conducted a forensic examination of the electronic storage devices which led to the discovery of several images of child pornography.

Correspondence between Copeland and Desiree Lee Padilla, of Brownsville, was also discovered. Padilla was subsequently prosecuted by state authorities for aggravated sexual assault of a child and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment on September 11, 2013.

Copeland will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future. The case was investigated by HSI, CCPS-ICAC, and USMS, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lance Duke as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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