Operation Predator Nabs San Antonio Club Bouncer For Possessing Child Porn

SAN ANTONIO - A former club bouncer and armed security guard for a local San Antonio dairy company was sentenced here on Friday to six years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised released after an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Robert Baker, 36, pleaded guilty to receiving and possessing child pornography in January. On Friday, he appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Fred Biery who sentenced him to six years incarceration with a lifetime of supervised release; he must also register as a sex offender.

ICE executed a federal search warrant at Baker's home on the 100 block of Allison Drive in January 2006. ICE agents seized Baker's laptop computer and 11 compact diskettes. A forensic analysis of the computer and diskettes identified 73 JPEG images of child pornography, and eight MPEG movies depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

On June 6, 2007, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Texas, returned an Indictment charging Baker with possessing and receiving child pornography. Just five days later, on June 11, ICE agents arrested Baker without incident.

"Today's sentence should serve as a deterrent that possessing and receiving child pornography is a serious crime that ICE will not tolerate," said Jerry Robinette, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in San Antonio. "ICE agents will continue to work tirelessly to identify these child predators and bring them justice, one by one."

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tracy Braun and Tom Moore, Western District of Texas, prosecuted this case.

This case was part of Operation Predator, a comprehensive ICE initiative aimed at those who prey on children, including human traffickers, international sex tourists, Internet pornographers, and foreign national predators whose crimes make them deportable. Since the initiative was launched in July 2003, there have been nearly 11,000 individuals arrested nationwide, including more than 1,100 in Texas.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may also be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.