The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

A 73-year-old Nederland, Texas, man has been sentenced to federal prison for child pornography violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.

Gordon Wayne Buffington pleaded guilty on Mar. 7, 2013, to possession of child pornography and was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Ron Clark.

According to information presented in court, on July 31, 2012, law enforcement officers were contacted by a computer repair business to report what they believed to be child pornography on a customer’s desktop personal computer.

The customer, Buffington, was contacted by the computer repair business and returned to the business to retrieve his computer.

Once Buffington returned to the business he identified his computer for law enforcement officers and admitted to downloading and viewing child pornography.

A forensic examination of the computer revealed 15 vides of child pornography.

Buffington was indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 23, 2013 and charged with child pornography violations.

Buffington was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $4,000 and a fine of $12,500.

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 United States 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visitwww.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, the Jefferson County Narcotics Task Force and the Nederland Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher T. Tortorice.