SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

TEXARKANA � A 65-year-old Double Oak lawyer has been sentenced to federal prison for child pornography violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.

William J. Kleinkauf pleaded guilty on Nov. 16, 2010, to possession of child pornography and was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge David Folsom.

According to information presented in court, on Aug. 9, 2007, law enforcement officers executed a federal search warrant at Kleinkauf's office in Flower Mound, Texas and seized his personal computer and related computer equipment.

A forensic examination of the seized items was conducted and found to contain over 250 images of child pornography. Some of the images depicted prepubescent minors under the age of 12 engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and some of the images are considered sadistic or masochistic. Kleinkauf was indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 14, 2010, and charged with child pornography violations.

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 visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by ICE/HSI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Terri Hagan and Mandy Griffith.