BRIDGE CITY, Texas — A Bridge City man has been sentenced to 120 months in prison after being found guilty of possession of child pornography.
Dereck Wayne Winstead, 34, will serve 10 years in federal prison for child pornography violations in the Eastern District of Texas, according to U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs.
Winstead was found guilty by a jury of possession of child pornography following a trial before U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone. He was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison by Judge Crone on Oct. 31, 2024.
According to information presented in court, in 2020, federal agents received two cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicating that an individual in Orange County had been accessing and possessing images of child pornography.
An investigation revealed that the accounts accessing the child pornography were connected to Winstead.
On March 30, 2022, law enforcement officers conducted a consensual search at Winstead’s residence and located four electronic devices, including a custom-built gaming computer.
A search of the gaming computer by a computer forensic analyst revealed more than 300 images of child pornography, including images of children under the age of 12.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.
Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 to identify and rescue victims.
If you have information about a crime you could earn a cash reward of up to $1000 by providing an ANONYMOUS tip to Crime Stoppers of Southeast Texas.
Call 833-TIPS (8477) or download the P3Tips App on your mobile device to submit your tip anonymously.
