TYLER, Texas — (ICE) — A former preacher at the Lake Highlands Baptist Church in Sulphur Springs, Texas, was sentenced Wednesday to more than 11 years in federal prison for child pornography offenses,
This sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney John M. Bale, Eastern District of Texas. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Hopkins County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office.
Chad Calhoun, 33, of Longview, Texas, was convicted by a federal jury Dec. 10, 2015, for receiving and possessing child pornography. He was sentenced to 135 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Michael H. Schneider Aug. 3. Upon his release from custody, Calhoun must also serve a term of supervised release of 10 years and will be required to register as a sex offender.
According to the evidence introduced at trial, in June 2014, an investigator with the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office observed an individual making child pornography available on a peer-to-peer file-sharing program. The computer was tracked back to Calhoun’s house in Sulphur Springs. During trial, law enforcement introduced evidence showing that child pornography was made available for distribution on the peer-to-peer network from Calhoun’s residence and from Lake Highlands Baptist Church, where he was the pastor, for more than a year prior to this investigation. Law enforcement also testified at his jury trial about the forensic evidence located on a laptop seized from Calhoun, including hundreds of videos of child pornography that had been stored in various folders.
