Texas Man Indicted on Multiple Child Pornography Charges

Department of Justice ^ | June 22, 2009 | United States Attorney's Office Southern District of Texas

[Larry381]

VICTORIA, TX—Steven Thomas Brunsma, 60, of Corpus Christi, has been charged with possession, receipt and distribution of child pornography, United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. A Victoria grand jury handed down the indictment on June 18, 2009.

Brunsma is charged with eight counts of possessing, receiving and distributing child pornography, alleged to have occurred between June 2008 and January 2009 in the Corpus Christi Division of the Southern District of Texas. The child pornography consists of images of minors - largely boys ranging in age from 10 – 14 years, according to the criminal complaint - engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Brunsma was arrested on May 21, 2009, pursuant to federal complaint charging him with possession and receipt of child pornography. Brunsma has remained in federal custody without bond since then following U.S. Magistrate Judge B. Janice Ellington’s denial of bond.

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. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by the FBI and Corpus Christi Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lance Duke.