Registered sex offender arrested for receipt and possession of child pornography

A 44-old Spring resident has been charged by criminal complaint on allegations he received and possessed images of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson.
 
Gregg Carl Baird was arrested yesterday and is expected to make his initial appearance on the charges before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy K. Johnson at 2:00 p.m. today. At that time, the government expects to request he remain in custody pending further criminal proceedings.
 
According to the criminal complaint, an investigation led authorities to believe Baird was accessing files from a website known to contain child pornography. According to the court document, Baird accessed a file containing an image that depicted three prepubescent boys engaged in explicit sexual activity, to include penetration of each other and oral sex. Baird also allegedly accessed a link that contained more than 30 contact sheets of child pornography. A contact sheet is an image that displays several images as an array of thumbnails. Some of the images allegedly depicted a prepubescent male being anally penetrated by another child, while other images depicted a male child being orally penetrated by an adult male, according to the allegations. As a result of the investigation and information, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Baird's address yesterday.
 
According to the criminal complaint, an FBI agent previewed a thumb drive believed to be associated with Baird and observed approximately 50 images of child pornography. The majority of the images allegedly depicted boys under the age of 15 with their genitals lasciviously displayed. The criminal  complaint also alleges Baird possessed images of child pornography depicting prepubescent males being penetrated orally and anally.
 
The criminal complaint indicates Baird is a registered sex offender.
 
The charges are the result of an investigation conducted by the Houston FBI Child Exploitation Task Force with the assistance of the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
 
If convicted, Baird faces a minimum of 15 and up to 40 years for receiving child pornography and up to 20 years for the possession charge. Following his release, he will also face a term of up to life on supervised release.
 
The prosecution is being 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 the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."
 
A criminal complaint is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence.
A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.