Published: November 05, 2009 08:44 pm      

Athens man named in child pornography indictment

TYLER – An Athens resident is among several defendants named in indictments released Thursday by a federal grand jury.

U.S. Attorney John M. Bales announced that a true bill was returned on James Clifford Hendrix, 43, in the Eastern District Court of Texas. Hendrix faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted of child pornography charges. No further information concerning the nature of the charge was available at press-time.

Hendrix was arrested in Henderson County in 2003 on a previous charge of enticing a child. He entered a guilty plea in that case in 2006.

The current federal case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May, 2006 by the Department of Justice.

Led by U.S. 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.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan R. Jackson.