News Releases

Arlington, Texas man pleads guilty to federal child pornography offense

FORT WORTH, Texas - A man from Arlington, Texas, pleaded guilty on Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey L. Cureton to an indictment charging one count of receiving child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. The case was investigated by the Arlington Police Department and by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

David L. Goluba, 43, faces a maximum statutory sentence of not less than five or more than 20 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is set for Nov. 29 before U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means.

Goluba was arrested in St. Paul, Minn., a few days after he was indicted in the Northern District of Texas. According to an order entered following his detention hearing on April 21, 2010, a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of Minnesota found that Goluba had abruptly left his employment, made arrangements to liquidate his property and left Texas after learning that he was under investigation in this case. The Court also found that Goluba had engaged in other conduct consistent with an intent to avoid capture as he stopped using his cell phone and obtained a prepaid phone and changed his online identity several times between leaving his residence in Texas and his arrest in Minnesota.

The Court also found that Goluba had discussed with another how to obtain the birth certificate of a deceased person; and he also stated in an on-line chat that he wanted to get new, false identification.

According to plea documents filed in the case, on March 1, 2010, when Arlington Police Department detectives interviewed Goluba regarding a lead they had received, he admitted that he had child pornography on his computer. A search warrant was executed to obtain the computer and related storage media and a forensic examination confirmed that there were more than 10 video clips of child pornography on his computer.

Goluba admitted that he knowingly received the numerous images and videos of child pornography of girls as young as 10-years-old engaged in posing and in sexual acts.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex C. Lewis, Northern District of Texas, is prosecuting this case.

This investigation is part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 12,800 individuals.

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 be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.

This case was also brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. 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, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.