Fugitive Arrested in Puerto Vallarta Convicted on Child Pornography Charges

Faces Up to 50 Years in Federal Prison

DALLAS—Former Mesquite, Texas resident, James Gregory Morris, 44, was convicted today by Chief U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater on several child pornography offenses, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Morris has been in custody since his arrest on September 29, 2009, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, by FBI agents. He was flown back to Dallas to face the charges in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in April 2009.

Specifically, the court convicted Morris on two counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. The government presented evidence at today’s bench trial that in September and October 2006, Morris downloaded images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct from the Internet onto his home computer. A detective with the Dallas Police Department testified that Morris possessed 1500 still images and 118 videos of prepubescent boys and girls engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The maximum statutory sentence for receipt of child pornography is not less than five or more than 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, per count, upon conviction. The maximum statutory sentence for the possession of child pornography count is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, upon conviction. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 1, 2010.

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 (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 http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.

The case is being investigated by the Dallas Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Camille Sparks and Lisa J. Miller are prosecuting the case.