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December 11, 2008
ICE arrests 60-year-old man charged with child pornography
Ex-Albuquerque resident set to be transferred back to New Mexico to face charges
Albuquerque, N.M. - A 60-year-old software technician waived his detention hearing in a Texas federal court Thursday following charges stemming from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) child pornography investigation that was initiated here.
Dixon Regan was arrested Dec. 8 in his home in Corpus Christi, Texas, by ICE special agents. He recently moved to Corpus Christi from Albuquerque.
Regan was indicted Nov. 18 by a federal grand jury in Albuquerque on six counts of receiving visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and one count of possessing material containing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. An ICE investigation revealed that a computer seized from Regan's house in Albuquerque contained videos and images of naked prepubescent girls, some involved in sexual acts with adult men.
Regan, employed as a computer technician, is currently in federal custody, and is set to be transferred to appear in federal court in Albuquerque. His transfer and his hearing dates have not been set. If convicted on all charges, he could face up to 30 years in federal prison.
"ICE identifies, investigates and removes from the streets anyone who sexually exploits children," said Kevin Kozak, acting special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in El Paso. "We will continue to use all our law enforcement resources to pursue these predators who mistakenly believe that committing their despicable actions in cyberspace shields them from scrutiny."
The ICE Office of Investigations in Albuquerque, N.M., is a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC). The ICAC Task Force Program, comprised of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is a cooperative effort to enhance investigative response to offenders who use the Internet, online communication systems or other computer technology to sexually exploit children. The program is currently composed of 59 regional task forces across the United States and is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Regan's investigation is part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 11,600 individuals, including more than 1,160 in Texas.
ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.
Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.
-- ICE --
