A 46-year-old Rockdale man, arrested last December following a five-month investigation by the Texas Attorney General’s Office, drew an eight-year prison term Friday in 20th District Court.
Prosecutor Bill Torrey said David Wayne Carter pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of promotion of child pornography.
Torrey said Carter waived all rights to appeal the conviction and will be required to register as a sex offender for life.
INVESTIGATION—The case was investigated by Sgt .J. D. Newlin of the attorney general’s Child Exploitation Unit.
Newlin is a former Rockdale Police Department lieutenant.
In his arrest affidavit, Newlin states initially three images and one video were obtained as a result of the investigation, noting two of the images and the video are considered child pornography and one image is considered child erotica.
In December the reporter obtained the arrest affidavit from Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Greg Hoelscher.
TUMBLR—The affidavit notes on July 10, the online sharing service Tumblr notified the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children that an account had uploaded suspected images of child pornography.
The Center contacted the attorney general child exploitation unit and Newlin was assigned the case. The Internet Protocol Address (IP), Tumblr account information and an associated yahoo.com email address were also provided.
Newlin’s report noted the account was traced after a subpoena was obtained for Suddenlink.com, the Internet Service Provider.
On Nov. 30 the AGCEU searched the defendant’s residence at 124 Champions Drive and seized numerous electronic devices while a cell phone was taken from Carter.
The defendant’s place of business in Round Rock was also searched.
After a complete forensic examination of the devices seized, the affidavit states two additional videos of child pornography were located on a hard drive.
FILES—Newlin’s complaint said files involved included:
• Video (46 seconds) of adult male and female approximately 6 to 8.
• Video (3.24 seconds) of male, approximately 12 to 14, and female, approximately 8 to 10, that “shows the sexual assault of the female child by the male child.”
• Video (3.19 seconds) of adult male and female, approximately 6 to 8, that shows “sexual assault of the child by the adult male.”
• Image video of adult male and female, 10 to 12.
The affidavit states the videos and image “meet the definition of child pornography as set forth in the Texas Penal Code.
CONFESSION—The affi -davit noted the defendant was interviewed and states: “...the defendant admitted to viewing and possession of child pornography on the reported Tumblr account as well as on an old cellular telephone that was located inside the residence.”
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