BROWNSVILLE, Texas — A security guard for the federal courthouse in the border city of McAllen has been arrested and charged by federal agents with child pornography charges.
On Thursday morning, Ricardo A. Garcia, from McAllen, TX, who works as a security guard at the McAllen federal building, went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ignacio Torteya. Judge Torteya formally charged Garcia with one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. Torteya ordered that Garcia be held without bond.
Court records obtained by Breitbart Texas show that agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) began looking into Garcia on January 8, when they spotted a series of downloads of computer files with names suggesting they contained videos of children.
After an investigation into where the computer was located and the type of files that were downloaded, agents with HSI got a search warrant that they served on Wednesday night at Garcia’s home in McAllen and then interviewed him. During the interview Garcia told the agents that the computer and the storage devices did in fact contain several child pornography videos.
According to Torteya, if convicted, Garcia faces a prison term of 5-20 years for the receipt of child pornography charge and up to a 10-year-prison term for the possession of child pornography charge. The possession charge can carry a higher sentence if the videos depict victims under 12 years of age.
Follow Ildefonso Ortiz on Twitter: @ildefonsoortiz
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