June 17, 2010 - WICHITA FALLS, TX—William Fred Weatherford, 71, of Graham, Texas, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor to 210 months (17.5 years) in federal prison for producing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Weatherford has been in custody since his arrest in February 2010 on a related charge outlined in a sealed federal criminal complaint. Weatherford will also have to serve a lifetime of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender.
According to plea documents filed in the case, Weatherford admitted that between December 1, 2009, and December 25, 2009, he used, persuaded, induced, and enticed Jane Doe, a 3-year-old child, to engage in sexually explicit conduct and took photographs of her. The factual resume further states that in mid-January, Weatherford voluntarily admitted to a Texas Ranger that he had taken these photographs of Jane Doe and that his actions had hurt her and her family.
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 and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Texas Rangers and the Young County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa J. Miller, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Dallas, prosecuted the case.
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