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Mabank man sentenced for child porn

May 14, 2008

A former waste treatment facility manager, Harrison Havens, 56, of Mabank, was sentenced Tuesday to 17.5 years in federal prison after his 2007 conviction on child pornography charges.

Mr. Havens was convicted in November 2007 on four counts of child pornography possession and one count of child pornography transportation. Upon release, Mr. Havens will be supervised for five years and will be required to register as a sex offender for life.

Texas Assistant Attorney General Sarah Wannarka prosecuted the case in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas.

“The 17-and-a-half year sentence handed down by Judge Leonard Davis holds this defendant accountable for storing and distributing images of child sexual abuse,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement. “The Cyber Crimes Unit will continue arresting and prosecuting sex predators and child pornographers. We are grateful to U.S. Attorney John Ratcliffe and the U.S. Marshals Service for their continuing commitment to Texas children.”

The state’s Cyber Crimes Unit investigators searched Mr. Havens’ residence after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicated that he was distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Forensic analysis of computers and external media confiscated at Mr. Havens’ home revealed several hundred images and videos of child pornography. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Mr. Havens in New York in April 2007 following his indictment on federal charges. At the time of the investigation, Mr. Havens worked as a waste treatment facility manager.

The case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative that encourages the use of multi-jurisdictional task forces to investigate and prosecute the sexual exploitation of children online. In Texas, investigative assistance in these cases is provided by the Texas Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, which is one of almost 50 federally funded task forces across the country dedicated to this project.


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