Midlothian PD and FBI put convicted sex offender away for child porn possession

Steven Lass is pictured here in a May 2014 sex offender annual verification photo relating to a 2006 conviction of felony indecency with a child. Lass was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Monday, November 2, 2014 after pleading guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.

DALLAS — An Arlington, Texas, man, Steven Lass, 33, a registered sex offender, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey to 15 years in federal prison following his guilty plea in April 2015 to one count of possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

According to documents filed in the case, in August 2014, an officer with the Midlothian Police Department conducted a traffic stop in Midlothian on a vehicle driven by Steven Lass. The officer noticed that Lass’s front passenger seat was missing. Several tools and electronic devices were found where the seat would be have been located; Lass indicated that the tools and devices were his.

Lass consented to a search of his vehicle. Two iPods that were found were searched, and several images of child pornography were located. A subsequent forensic analysis of the seized material by FBI special agents revealed more than 650 images of child pornography on Lass’s iPods and 1559 images of child pornography on a thumb drive.

The FBI and the Midlothian Police Department investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Camille Sparks and Lori Walker prosecuted.

Lass was previously arrested in 2005, convicted in 2006 for indecency with a child and sentenced to nine years for the incident with an eight-year-old girl before being released on parole.

The latest case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab "resources."