Steven Michael Turnbow, 33, of Leuders, Texas, was sentenced Thursday by a federal judge for receipt of child pornography.

An official statement from prosecutors said, “Turnbow used the Wi-Fi signal from his neighbor’s house to access the Internet.”

The statement also said, “When he saw that his neighbors’ residence was being searched by law enforcement, he removed the computer hard drive from his desktop computer…”

Turnbow was accused of using his neighbor’s Wi-Fi signal to download images and videos of minors “engaged in sexually explicit conduct,”

Prosecutors accused him of throwing the hard drive into a river near his residence.

A federal judge sentenced Turnbow to 87 months which is more than seven years in prison.  Turnbow will also have to serve eight years of supervised release after his prison sentence is completed.

Leuders is northeast of Abilene.  The following is a copy of the written statement from federal prosecutors:

Leuders Man Sentenced to 87 Months in Federal Prison For Child Pornography Offense

LUBBOCK, Texas — Steven Michael Turnbow, 33, of Leuders, Texas, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor to serve a total of 87 months in federal prison and an eight-year term of supervised release, following his guilty plea to receipt of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.  

Turnbow has been in custody since his arrest in March 2017.  He pleaded guilty in May 2017 to one count of receipt of visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

According to the factual resume filed in the case, between 2015 through July 30, 2016, Turnbow received, by way of the Internet, several images and videos which depict minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  Turnbow used the Wi-Fi signal from his neighbor’s house to access the Internet.  When he saw that his neighbors’ residence was being searched by law enforcement, he removed the computer hard drive from his desktop computer, which he had been using to search for, and download, images and videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and threw it in a river near his residence.

These cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorney’s 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 sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Shackelford County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy prosecuted the case.