Houston-area man back behind bars on child pornography charges

SPRING, Texas - A Spring man has been placed back behind bars after he was sentenced on several child pornography charges.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice for the Southern District of Texas, Colt Jacoby Barnett, initially plead guilty on October 17, 2022, to the child porn charges.

On Wednesday, a judge ordered Barnett to prison for a total of 210 months (about 17.5 years) for distributing, possessing, as well as "destruction of evidence."

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This comes after the FBI in January 2019 uncovered graphic child porn footage being shared through a BitTorrent peer-to-peer network. The IP address was then traced back to Barnett's home, with further investigation revealing he was a registered sex offender and previously was convicted in 2004 on child porn charges.

After executing a search warrant at Barnett's home, prosecutors said he was trying to "destroy a laptop computer in his possession." This was because a forensic examination of the computer's hard drive found 55 videos of child porn.

He was then found to have received and distributed child porn through peer-to-peer programs. The videos also showed graphic footage with at least one video showing a child under the age of 5.

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As part of Barnett's sentencing, he was further ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to a known victim and serve 10 years on supervised release after completing his prison term. During that time, prosecutors said he will have to comply with several requirements meant to restrict his access to children as well as the internet.

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"Offenders who exploit children by repeatedly traumatizing them via collecting and making their images available through the internet are a plague on our society," U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani said in a press statement. "This defendant was previously prosecuted and punished for similar behavior, and thankfully, the enhanced penalties for repeat offenders ensure he will spend even longer in prison this time, thus protecting our children further from his deviant criminal behavior."

Crime and Public Safety Spring Houston Harris County