Texarkana felon charged with possessing child pornography in the Eastern District of Texas

TYLER, Texas - A Texarkana, Texas convicted felon has been charged with federal child pornography violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs.

John Matthew Emerson, 41, was named in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury this week in the Eastern District of Texas charging him with possession of child pornography.

The indictment alleges that Emerson, while on supervised release for a previous possession of child pornography conviction, was found with a cellular phone that contained images of child pornography.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

If convicted, Emerson faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

This case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Jackson.

A federal indictment is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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