James Guzman, 38, has been accused of nine counts of possession of child pornography and six counts of promotion of child pornography, according to state Attorney General Greg Abbott.
State investigators searched Guzman's San Marcos, Texas, home in April after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Abbott said. A forensic examination of an iPod confiscated there revealed several stored images and videos of child pornography.
The iPod Guzman used was an older music-only version incapable of playing the videos but able to upload digitized media onto a computer, said Abbott, who noted that Guzman was trading child pornography off the Internet, and then downloading it so he could take it with him wherever he goes.
Guzman, who said he is a student Texas State University in San Marcos, was arrested by unit investigators on Jan. 11 and is being held in the Hays County Jail.
“Innovative technology has made electronic recordings and photographs more portable and accessible,” Attorney General Abbott said in a statement. “Unfortunately, sexual predators are taking advantage of these new developments in order to exploit children. Collecting and distributing child pornography is a crime.”
Joan Irvine, ASACP’s executive director, told XBiz that distribution devices such as cellphones, iPod and Xbox for viewing images along with the ability of people using such devices to produce what is being labeled as “organically generated content” is a real concern to law enforcement and to child protection organizations.
“These images are not stored on a site at hosting company where they were in the past; they are just passed from one person to another,” Irvine said.
Promotion of child pornography in Texas is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Possession is a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000; however, a new state law that went into effect on Sept. 1, makes the possession charges stackable on punishment at the discretion of the judge.
