San Angelo Man Uses File Sharing Website to Distribute Inappropriate Images, Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison

SAN ANGELO, TX — In November 2016, local deputies with the Tom Green County Sheriff's Officer (TGCSO) arrested Shaundel Rey Windom on a Possession of Child Pornography charge. Now, eight months later, Senior U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings sentenced  168 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in March 2017 to one count of Transportation of Child Pornography.

In a press release, TGCSO officials with the Criminal Investigation Division obtained a search warrant for a residence located on Concho Drive in the Grape Creek area. The search warrant authorized investigators to search for and seize items containing child pornography.

"Tom Green County Sheriff’s Investigators, acting on a crime tip, began an investigation to identify the suspect and the location where the child pornography was stored," said Sheriff David Jones. "Investigators learned through investigative techniques information that identified Shaundel Rey Windom as a suspect in the investigation."

When Investigators executed the search warrant at Windom's residence, "Investigators seized electronic devices that displayed numerous images and video recordings that contained images and videos of child pornography depicting children younger than 18 years of age engaging in sexual conduct," said Jones. Windom admitted to investigators that he viewed, downloaded and was in possession of child pornography.

Windom was arrested for the crime and booked him into the Tom Green County Jail on a $30,000 bond. 

“The Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office is committed to protecting all children and especially those who are victims of this crime,” said Sheriff Jones in a statement in late 2016.

In a press release from the Department of Justice today, court documents filed in the case showed that Windom had also set up a Dropbox account on two separate occasions and uploaded several images and videos of child pornography. At the time Windom transported the files, he knew the nature of the files and he knew that the files contained minor children under the age of eighteen.

Windom's case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”

This investigation was conducted by the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy was in charge of the prosecution.