WISE COUNTY , TEXAS , MAN SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON, WITHOUT PAROLE, ON CHILD PORN CONVICTION

FORT WORTH, Texas — Kevin Riedle, 42, of Runaway Bay, Texas, who pled guilty in October to one count of an indictment charging transporting and shipping child pornography, was sentenced by U.S.. District Judge Terry R. Means to 240 months (20 years) in federal prison and ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas.  Judge Means also ordered that Riedle register as a sex offender.  Riedle was arrested in March 2006 on state child pornography charges and has been in custody since that time.  At the sentencing hearing, Riedle’s stepdaughter testified about years of sexual abuse at Riedle’s hands.

A federal grand jury charged Riedle in June 2007 in a four-count indictment with transporting and shipping child pornography and possessing child pornography.  Riedle pled guilty to one of the transportation and shipping counts, admitting that he had used his computer to send images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct via the internet to an email account in Michigan. 

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov

U.S. Attorney Roper commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General, the Dallas Police Department and its Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, the Wise County Sheriff’s Office and the Wise County District Attorney’s Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Aisha Saleem prosecuted the case.