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Texas teacher convicted on federal child pornography charges

Lina Portman2 days ago

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An El Paso teacher was sentenced to more than a decade in prison on federal child pornography charges and faces additional charges for allegedly sexually abusing a fifth-grade student, authorities said.

Brian Troy Nunez was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for two counts of receiving a visual depiction involving the sexual exploitation of a minor and another count of possessing a visual depiction involving the sexual exploitation of a minor of a minor under 12 years old, authorities said. .

“This person is a teacher and has access to all of our children,” said Jason T. Stevens, acting special agent in charge of HSI El Paso. “This is extremely important. HSI personnel, although we are federal employees, we live in the very communities that we serve and protect. So for us, this is extremely important. Our children go to these schools. We want to make sure that the schools are safe. Teachers are required to report incidents. They know the importance of this and the impact it has on the children.”

Nunez was a teacher at Beall Elementary School in south-central El Paso. He resigned from his position following his Sept. 27 arrest on federal charges, officials said.

He is now accused by the state of “grooming” a student to become his next victim, authorities said. The charges against him are one count of sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency towards a child. The charges involve the alleged sexual abuse of a child, Hicks said.

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“We fully intend to prosecute him and make sure he spends not only time in federal custody, but additional time in a state penitentiary,” El Paso County District Attorney Bill Hicks said. “This behavior is not acceptable.”

Nunez faces up to 20 years in prison for sexual assault and 10 years for indecent exposure to a child. Hicks said he hopes the sentences will be served consecutively to the federal sentence.

Federal conviction for child pornography

The investigation into Nunez began after agents with the Department of Homeland Security Investigations received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That information indicated that Nunez had posted what was considered at the time to be child sexual abuse material online, Stevens said.

HSI agents, working with the El Paso Police Department, found images and videos of a child under the age of 12 “engaging in sexually explicit conduct” on a computer belonging to Nunez, says a federal indictment.

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Officers then obtained a search warrant for Nunez's home and to search other electrical devices belonging to Nunez. Officers found more photos and videos of child pornography, Stevens said.

He was arrested on September 27. He pleaded guilty on February 20 to federal charges and was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Thursday, June 27.

Brian Nunez allegedly dragged an elementary school student

Nunez used his position as a teacher to begin “grooming” a fifth-grade student to become a victim of sexual abuse, Stevens said.

Grooming is when a sexual predator attempts to get close to their victim and gain their trust in order to sexually abuse them, Stevens said.

While Nunez was grooming a student at Beall Elementary School, no sexual abuse took place on campus, Hicks said.

“The initial contact occurred at school, but the offense itself did not occur on school grounds,” Hicks said.

No further details have been released as the case against Nunez is ongoing.

All other victims are requested to come forward.

Authorities are asking any other potential victims of Nunez to come forward to speak with law enforcement.

“Obviously the number of children that this person as a teacher is exposed to is why we wanted to point out that if anyone else felt victimized by this particular person, Mr. Nunez, that “He feels empowered to come and talk to law enforcement to let us know,” Hicks said. “But it goes even further for anyone who has been victimized by a teacher, by someone in their church, by anyone in that type of position of authority, to feel empowered to go to the forces of order to let us know because you need it to speak for your justice. We will seek justice for you, but you must speak for your justice.

Victims can report sexual abuse to HSI El Paso at 915-856-2315 and to the El Paso Police Department at 915-212-4000.

You can contact Aaron Martinez at [email protected] or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.

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Lina Portman2 days ago

0 3 minutes read

Lina Portman