Port Isabel Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

BROWNSVILLE, TX—A Port Isabel man has been convicted of possessing hundreds of images and videos obtained via the Internet depicting child pornography, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.

Samuel Tabares, 33, of Port Isabel, Texas, pleaded guilty today to the federal felony charge before United States District Judge Hilda G. Tagle. He faces a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment, followed by no less than five years up to lifetime supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Judge Tagle has set sentencing for Oct. 5, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. Tabares will remain in federal custody without bond pending his sentencing hearing.

The charges against Tabares are the result of the investigative efforts of the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initiated when two separate undercover FBI agents searching the Internet for child pornography sites found child pornography on a file sharing program which lead to the identification of Tabares’ computer as hosting the files. This information lead to the securing of a search warrant for Tabares’ residence in Port Isabel and his computer and ultimately the discovery of 343 images and 132 videos containing child pornography, including some of the same images the undercover agents had observed in the file sharing program.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Assistant United States Attorney Joseph Leonard is prosecuting the case.