TEXARKANA, Texas -- A Red River County, Texas, man who viewed child pornography while at church and at work was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison Tuesday by a federal judge.
James Thomas Tucker, 36, appeared before U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III for sentencing Tuesday afternoon in Texarkana's downtown federal building. Tucker pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography at a hearing in October.
Schroeder sentenced Tucker to 124 months in federal prison. There is no parole, and federal inmates earn a maximum of about 54 days per year of good time credit. Upon his release, Tucker will be supervised by federal officials for 10 years and could be ordered to serve additional time if he violates the conditions of his supervised release. Tucker must register as a sex offender.
An FBI investigation into Tucker began in June 2020 with a report regarding a user of the digital messenger application Kik made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip alerted authorities that four images and 20 videos had been uploaded to Kik that depicted the sexual abuse of prepubescent children.
FBI investigators identified email addresses, usernames and internet protocol addresses used to log in which have been connected to Tucker. The activity on Kik which involved the child pornography occurred at IP addresses associated with a grocery store in Mount Pleasant, Texas, where Tucker worked in 2020 and with a church in Bogata, Texas, he attended.
Tucker's home in Bogata was searched in December 2020 by the FBI. Two other adults and "several small children" were present when the search warrant was executed.
"I downloaded, possessed, and distributed more than 600 images of child pornography, including depictions of prepubescent minors and depictions of sadistic or masochistic abuse or violence. And when I distributed images of child pornography, I did so in exchange for valuable consideration -- other images of child pornography," a factual basis document states in Tucker's case in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas.
Tucker was represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Kenneth Hawk. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Hornok represented the government.