A 66-year-old man arrested by Texas Rangers in October after reportedly admitting to consuming “thousands” of child sexual abuse materials for 14 years was indicted Tuesday by a Lubbock County grand jury.
Jorge Ernesto Rasura is charged with a first-degree felony count of possession of more than 500 depictions of child pornography, which carries a punishment of five years to life in prison.
His charge stems from a Texas Rangers investigation that began in Sept. 25, after a witness reported seeing what he believed to be child sexual abuse materials on Rasura’s phone, according to court documents.
The man told investigators that he was working at Rasura’s home five days earlier and Rasura gave him his phone to complete the job, the documents state.
He said while working on Rasura’s phone, he stumbled upon about 20 video files that had names that indicated they depicted explicit materials. One of the file names indicated that it contained child sexual abuse, the documents state.
Rangers obtained a search warrant on Oct. 21 for Rasura’s phone and traveled to his residence in Ransom Canyon where he reportedly voluntarily provided his phone and admitted to storing about 3,000 images and videos depicting child sexual abuse, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Rasura reportedly told an investigator that the children depicted in the materials ranged from toddlers to teenagers. He later admitted to consuming child sexual abuse materials every day for the last 14 years, the affidavit states.
However, despite surrendering his phone to investigators, Rasura reportedly refused to provide his password to access the device, which was turned over to forensic investigators who would access the device later.
Meanwhile, troopers arrested Rasura who was booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center where he was released the next day on bond set at $150,000.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Ransom Canyon man indicted after reportedly admitting to possessing child pornography
Reporting by Gabriel Monte, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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