Monday, April 12, 2010

135-Month Prison Term

135-Month Prison Term for Houston Man Who Distributed Child Pornography


April 12, 2010 - HOUSTON—Roger Lynn Noble, 64, of Houston, has been sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography, United States Attorney JosĂ© Angel Moreno announced today. Noble was arrested on June 12, 2009, by agents with the FBI and has been in custody since that date.

The indictment, returned June 9, 2009, charged Noble with distributing child pornography between July 11 and Dec. 11, 2008. Noble was in an Internet relay chat room where he met up with an undercover postal inspector posing as the father of two daughters. The focus of the chat was based on what the fictitious father had done sexually with his daughters. Noble expressed his interest in sex with children by sending child pornography images. Noble sent 15 images containing child pornography, three of which showed female minors under the age of 12, to the inspector. The investigation resulted in the identification of Noble and a search warrant was executed at his home, at which time he admitted to having a sexual interest in young girls. He indicated he knew it was illegal to possess child pornography and therefore deleted the images he collected every few days. At the time of the search, he was in possession of 510 images of child pornography.

Following completion of his 135-month term of imprisonment, Noble will have to register as a sex offender and will serve a life term of supervised release, during which he is prohibited from all computer use and cannot be within 100 feet of a school, park, or area where children regularly gather. He was also assessed a $600 fine.

The charges against Noble are the result of an investigation conducted by members of the FBI Cyber Squad Innocent Images Unit which focuses its attention on investigating offenses involving the exploitation of children via the Internet.

This case was brought 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. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri L. Zack.

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