Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge
of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced
today the arrest of a Sugar Grove, Illinois man for transportation of child
pornography.
Dennis Houston, age 43, of the 3S500
block of Bliss Road in Sugar Grove, was arrested at his residence without
incident last Thursday morning by special agents assigned to the Chicago FBI’s
Innocent Images Task Force (IITF). Houston was charged in a criminal complaint
filed June 6, 2012 in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one count of
transportation of child pornography, which is a felony offense.
According to the complaint, on February
29, 2012, an undercover FBI agent assigned to work IITF cases and located in
Maryland made online contact by way of a peer-to-peer file sharing network with
another individual who was sharing two password-protected file folders on the
network. The undercover agent began an online chat session with that person,
during which the password to the two folders was provided to the undercover
agent. Using that password, the agent downloaded approximately 20 image files
and one video file from the shared folders. The files were reviewed by an agent
assigned to the Chicago IITF, who determined that all of the downloaded files depicted
what appeared to the agent to be child pornography.
Subsequent investigation determined the
Internet protocol address used by the individual who provided the password and
the shared files to the undercover agent was used by Houston.
During a court-authorized search of
Houston’s residence on Thursday morning, a laptop computer was recovered, and a
preliminary forensic review of the laptop was conducted. Agents conducting the
review discovered approximately 1,300 child pornography images and files on the
laptop computer, including at least four of the image and video files
downloaded by the undercover agent on February 29, 2012.
Subsequent investigation by the IITF
developed additional evidence linking Houston to the laptop computer and the
folders made available on the peer-to-peer file sharing network from which the
child pornographic images were obtained, resulting in the charges announced
today.
In announcing this arrest, Mr. Grant
acknowledged the assistance provided by the Kane County Sheriff’s Office during
the course of this investigation.
Houston appeared before Magistrate Judge
Michael T. Mason in Chicago following his arrest on Thursday, at which time he
was formally charged. Houston was ordered held without bond pending his next
court appearance, which is scheduled for Tuesday, June 12. Until then, Houston
is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Chicago. If
convicted of the charge filed against him, Houston faces a mandatory minimum
sentence of five years’ incarceration to a maximum of 20 years’ incarceration.
Anyone having any information which
might be relevant to this investigation is asked to call the Chicago FBI at
(312) 421-6700.
The FBI’s Innocent Images initiative was
established in 1996 and is part of a nationwide effort to combat the
manufacture, distribution, and possession of child pornography. At present,
there are 43 separate Innocent Images task forces in various FBI offices around
the country, which are investigating similar cases.
The public is reminded that a complaint
is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are
presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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