Published: June 30, 2009 03:45 pm      

Former pastor sentenced to 17 years

Richardson also ordered to register as sex offender

By Brad Kellar

Herald-Banner Staff



A former Royse City pastor has been sentenced to prison on federal charges he possessed and trafficked in child pornography on his church’s computers.

Steve Richardson, 36, was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release. Richardson pleaded guilty March 19 to two federal counts; one alleging transporting and shipping child pornography and one alleging the possession of child pornography.

According to a release issued by Acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas, Richardson, 36, the former Pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Royse City, Texas, was sentenced late Monday by U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay to 17 years in federal prison. In addition, Lindsay ordered Richardson serve a lifetime of supervised release and register as a sex offender. Richardson has been in federal custody since he was arrested on September 24, 2008, by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on related charges in a federal criminal complaint.

“ICE agents target and investigate anyone who produces, possesses or shares child pornography,” said John Chakwin, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Dallas. “However, ICE prioritizes its investigations against anyone who may have direct contact with children, as was the case with this former pastor.”

In documents filed in court, Richardson admitted that on December 20, 2007, he logged into his Google “Hello” account and sent an image of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Google Hello software was an Internet service that enables users to trade images quickly, connecting directly (peer-to-peer) to each other’s computers specifically to share pictures. Since the connection was peer-to-peer, there was no limit to the number and size of pictures that could be shared. Once a connection was created, the individuals simply selected the pictures they wished to share — an individual picture, or a folder containing thousands of photos. While connected, the individuals could also engage in chat conversations, thus overcoming the traditional limitation of peer-to-peer software by facilitating both live chat and exchange of large volumes of files simultaneously.

Richardson, using his Google Hello identity “cowboysspades,” communicated over the Internet with an undercover ICE agent in Seattle, Washington. During that communication, Richardson sent an image of child pornography and requested images of child pornography from the undercover agent. When the agent provided an excuse for being unable to send images, Richardson terminated the chat.

On September 24, 2008, ICE agents executed a search warrant at First United Methodist Church in Royse City and seized a desktop computer from Richardson’s office that contained images of child pornography. Richardson admitted possessing an external hard drive that contained images of child pornography. Richardson admitted he traded child pornography with other Google Hello users and that he possessed more than 600 images of child pornography, including sadistic, masochistic, or other violent images involving minors.

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.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lisa Miller and Aisha Saleem prosecuted the case.

Richardson was facing a maximum sentence of between five and 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and a possible term of supervised release of from five years to life following any term of imprisonment and restitution.

Richardson has told prosecutors other church officials were unaware of his use of the computers to commit the offenses to which he pleaded.