A former Fort Stockton teacher has pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges, announced United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Waldemar Rodriguez, El Paso Division.
Javier Carlos Arteta Franco, a 58-year-old Venezuelan National and former elementary school teacher in Fort Stockton, faces between five and 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.
Appearing before United States Magistrate Judge David Counts in Pecos, Arteta Franco pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
By pleading guilty, Arteta Franco admitted that from December 2014 to August 2015, he used a file-sharing program to download to his personal computer videos and images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
On August 19, 2015, HSI agents executed a search warrant at the defendant’s residence and seized his laptop computer. A forensics analysis of the computer revealed the presence of child pornography that had been downloaded from the Internet.
Arteta Franco has remained in federal custody since his arrest by HSI agents on August 19, 2015. A sentencing date has yet to be scheduled.
This case was investigated by the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Alpine with assistance from the Fort Stockton Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandy Stewart is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Defendant: Javier Carlos Arteta Franco
Criminal Charges: Receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography
City and State: Fort Stockton, Texas
Date: December 2014 to August 2015 (crime date), August 19, 2015 (arrest date)
Sentence: Between five and 30 years in federal prison
Related Federal Cases
- Carlos Benjamin Martinez, Child Pornography Production, Texas 2015 · Texas
- Javier Giovanni Araujo, Conspiracy to Produce Child Pornography, Texas 2024 · Kansas
- Shemar Cameron Green, Child Pornography, Texas 2023 · Pennsylvania
- Christopher Dale Harrison, Production of Child Pornography, Texas 2013 · Arkansas
- Trevion Lechay Ethridge, Production of Child Pornography, Texas 2014 · Arkansas
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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