Houston Republic

A 32-year-old man has been sentenced to federal prison for receipt and possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Cody Wayne Burke pleaded guilty on April 15.

U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal sentenced Burke to 180 months for both convictions to be served concurrently. At the hearing, the court heard additional information about the vast collection of child pornography discovered on electronic devices seized during a March 2022 search.

Burke will be ordered to pay restitution in an amount to be determined at a later date to identified victims and must serve the rest of his life on supervised release following the completion of his prison term. During that time, he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. Burke will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.

Burke came to the attention of law enforcement based on a cyber tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. An IP address appeared to be uploading child pornography to cloud storage servers. The investigation led to Burke and his residence in Houston.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant and seized electronic devices including cellphones. Further analysis ultimately revealed Burke possessed a total of 850 images depicting child pornography. His collection included prepubescent minors, bondage, and bestiality involving minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

He has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S Bureau of Prisons facility in the near future.

The FBI conducted the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherin Daniel is prosecuting 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 lead 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 link on that page.

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