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Sugar Land man sentenced for possession of child pornography files

By: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas
| Published 04/28/2022

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HOUSTON, TX -- A 64-year-old Sugar Land resident has been ordered to prison following his convictions of receiving and possessing videos and images of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery.

A federal jury sitting in Houston convicted Gregory Eugene Baker Nov. 10, 2021, following a three-day trial.

Today, U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison ordered Baker to serve 90 months in prison for the receipt and possession of child pornography convictions. The court also heard additional information today including an impact statement from a victim. Baker had 231 photos of her in his collection. She described how she is revictimized every time individuals like Baker download and view images of her abuse. Baker will serve five years on supervised release following completion of his prison term, during which time he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. Baker will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.

At trial, the jury heard that authorities discovered Baker’s IP address requesting child pornography files on the Freenet file sharing system which was run on the dark web. On April 4, 2019, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Baker’s residence and seized multiple devices.

Forensic examination of 13 devices revealed three virtual machines and the discovery of 380 videos and 12,762 images of young children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. They included toddlers, bondage, bestiality and sadomasochism. Additionally, Baker had images of Christmas cards containing child pornography surrounded by ornaments, garland and holiday greetings.

A forensics expert further testified that there were artifacts involving child pornography search terms as well as other peer-to-peer file sharing programs in which the device’s user requested files with titles that were consistent with child pornography. They also testified that the devices belonged to Baker.

Baker testified in his own defense and attempted to convince the jury that although the devices were his, he did not know how the child pornography was downloaded on them. The jury did not believe his claims and found him guilty as charged.

Baker was ordered to surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility on April 29, 2022.

The Fort Bend District Attorney’s Office conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Pearland Police Department and FBI.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kimberly Ann Leo and Sherri Zack prosecuted the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section leads PSC, which marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and identifies and rescues victims. For more information about PSC, please visit DOJ’s PSC page. For more information about internet safety education, please visit the resources tab on that page.

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