Lubbock man sentenced for possessing child pornography

Provided by U.S. Department of Justice

Cyrus Patrick Yazdani, 25, of Lubbock, Texas, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 63 months in federal prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, following his guilty plea in November to one count of possession of child pornography.  Judge Cummings ordered that Yazdani surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on March 31, 2012.  Today's announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

Yazdani admitted that on June 22, 2011, he possessed a thumb drive that contained images of child pornography that he had downloaded from the Internet.

This case was 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 United States 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, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/

The investigation was conducted by the Lubbock Police Department's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Lubbock, Texas, was in charge of the prosecution.

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