Fort Worth Child Pornography Lawyer
An accusation is not a conviction. Your fight is ours.
Confidential Case Evaluation
Speak privately with a criminal defense attorney — we respond quickly, day or night.
Confidential · Available 24/7 · Se habla español
A charge involving child pornography — or even a knock on the door from investigators — is one of the most serious moments of a person’s life. The stakes include prison, sex offender registration, and a permanent mark on everything from employment to family life. Varghese Summersett’s criminal defense team is headquartered in downtown Fort Worth, two blocks from the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center. The team includes Board Certified criminal law specialists and former Tarrant County prosecutors who have handled these cases from both sides. Everything you tell us is confidential. Call (817) 203-2220 — we answer 24/7.
Your Fort Worth Criminal Defense Team
Four Board Certified specialists. Former prosecutors at the partner level. Our lawyers have been featured on 48 Hours, Dateline, Forensic Files, and Court TV. This is who handles your case.
How Child Pornography Cases Start in Tarrant County
Most of these cases begin long before an arrest. Tech companies file reports with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline, internet providers flag accounts, peer-to-peer networks are monitored, and task forces focused on internet crimes against children develop cases quietly. By the time Fort Worth police or federal agents execute a search warrant and seize every device in the home, the investigation may have been underway for months — and the forensic examination of those devices can take months more.
If your devices have been seized but you have not been charged, you are in the investigation window. This is the most valuable time to hire counsel. We can engage before charges are filed, shield you from interviews you should not give, and in some cases influence whether — and what — charges are ultimately brought.
State or Federal? Where Fort Worth Cases Are Heard
State charges under Texas Penal Code 43.26 are prosecuted by the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office in the district courts at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center. Cases with an interstate element — which can be as little as material transmitted over the internet — can instead be charged federally in the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division.
The difference matters enormously. Federal charges typically carry harsher sentencing ranges, and some federal offenses — such as receipt or distribution — carry mandatory minimum prison sentences. Which courthouse your case lands in changes the strategy from day one. Our attorneys defend these cases in both state and federal court.
Penalties for Possession of Child Pornography in Texas
The 2025 amendments to Texas Penal Code § 43.26 created the most complex penalty structure in the Texas Penal Code. The offense level depends on the type of material (real child vs. computer-generated), the number of visual depictions, the age of the child depicted, prior convictions, and whether the offender held a position of trust over children. These factors operate as a matrix — any combination can compound to increase the punishment.
Possession of Depictions of Real Children (§ 43.26(a-1))
The base offense for possessing material that depicts a real child engaging in sexual conduct is a third-degree felony. The offense level increases with the number of images, prior convictions, and other aggravating factors:
| Quantity / Circumstances | Offense Level | Punishment Range |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 10 visual depictions (no enhancements) | Third-Degree Felony | 2 to 10 years in prison; up to $10,000 fine |
| 10 to 49 visual depictions; or one prior qualifying conviction | Second-Degree Felony | 2 to 20 years in prison; up to $10,000 fine |
| 50 or more visual depictions; or material depicting sexual assault of a child (§ 22.011(a)(2)); or two or more prior qualifying convictions | First-Degree Felony | 5 to 99 years or life in prison; up to $10,000 fine |
| Offender employed at a child-care facility, residential treatment facility, youth shelter receiving state funds, or displayed material in a school library | First-Degree Felony (25-year minimum) | 25 to 99 years or life in prison |
Age Enhancement: Child Under 10 (§ 43.26(c-2))
The 2025 law added a separate age enhancement that layers on top of the base offense level. If the material depicts a child who appears to be younger than 10 years old, the punishment increases as follows:
| Base Offense Level | Enhanced Offense Level (Child Under 10) |
|---|---|
| Third-Degree Felony | Bumps up to Second-Degree Felony (2 to 20 years) |
| Second-Degree Felony | Bumps up to First-Degree Felony (5 to 99 years or life) |
| First-Degree Felony | Remains First-Degree Felony but minimum increases to 15 years |
This means the number of images sets the baseline penalty tier, and the age of the depicted child acts as an enhancement that ratchets it up further. Prior convictions and the offender’s position of trust serve as additional, independent pathways to a higher punishment.
Promotion of Child Pornography / Possession with Intent to Promote (§ 43.26(e))
Promoting child pornography — or possessing it with the intent to promote — is charged separately and carries higher penalties. “Promote” means to manufacture, issue, sell, give, provide, lend, mail, deliver, transfer, transmit, publish, distribute, circulate, disseminate, present, exhibit, or advertise, or to offer or agree to do any of these things.
A conviction under Penal Code 43.26 also requires registration as a sex offender. For the complete breakdown of offense levels, bonds, 3G status, registration, and the statute of limitations, see our full guide to possession of child pornography charges in Texas.
Bond and Pretrial Conditions in Tarrant County
Most people charged under Penal Code 43.26 in Tarrant County are eligible for bond, but the conditions matter as much as the amount. Courts routinely impose restrictions on internet and computer use, prohibit contact with minors — which can complicate living in your own home if you have children — and may require monitoring. These conditions take effect immediately and can upend your job, your family arrangements, and your ability to participate in your own defense.
We fight for bond conditions you can actually live under, and when conditions are unworkable, we move to modify them. How your bond is structured in the first weeks often shapes the entire case.
Defending These Cases in Fort Worth
These cases are more defensible than most people believe — but the defenses are technical, and they start with questions most lawyers never ask:
- Was the search lawful? The warrant, and the CyberTip chain behind it, can be challenged.
- Who actually possessed the files? Shared homes, shared computers, open Wi-Fi networks, and malware all matter.
- What do the forensics really show? Cached files, deleted material, automated downloads, and file dates tell a very different story than an indictment does.
- Can the State prove age and identity? The State must prove the material depicts an actual child.
- Do statutory defenses apply? Texas law contains specific affirmative defenses that apply in limited circumstances.
We retain independent digital forensic experts, move early, and work quietly. In some investigations, the best outcome is one the public never sees — because charges are never filed.
Why Varghese Summersett
Our criminal defense team includes four Board Certified specialists and former Tarrant County prosecutors at the partner level. We try cases in the courtrooms two blocks from our office, in front of judges and prosecutors we have known for decades. These cases demand both technical defense work and complete discretion — and that is exactly how we handle them.
We Have Tried the Cases Other Lawyers Read About
In 2017, our team tried the first Playpen case to reach a jury in Texas — before Judge Sidney Fitzwater in federal court in Dallas. Playpen was the dark-web site the FBI seized and kept running from a government server, unmasking visitors with injected tracking code. Nearly everyone charged in that operation pleaded guilty; our client went to trial, we made the government’s conduct part of the case, and the jury deliberated over guilt-innocence for more than a day. Few firms anywhere have taken a federal child pornography case through trial. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
Varghese Summersett Case Results in Fort Worth Child Pornography Cases
Every outcome described in this section is a real case Varghese Summersett handled and resolved for an actual client of this firm. These are our own results, not hypotheticals, not industry examples, and not another firm’s work. Identifying client details have been removed.
Charge: Possession of Child Pornography involving fifty or more images or videos, Tex. Penal Code 43.26
Charge level: First-degree felony
What our client faced: 5 to 99 years or life in prison and a fine up to $10,000
Venue: Tarrant County
Result Varghese Summersett obtained: Eight years of deferred adjudication rather than a prison sentence on a charge that opened at five to 99 years or life.
Handled by: Varghese Summersett
What a client says in the first hour often decides what the State can do in the next two years. In a recent Tarrant County case our client was charged with possession of child pornography involving fifty or more images or videos, filed under Section 43.26 as a first-degree felony carrying five to 99 years or life. The investigation had come through a familiar channel: a cloud-storage provider sent cybertips to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a police internet crimes against children unit picked them up, and investigators obtained a warrant for the cloud account associated with a phone number subscribed to our client before executing a second warrant at his residence and seizing electronic devices.
When investigators advised him of his Miranda rights, our client invoked his right to counsel immediately. He said nothing substantive about the allegations beyond confirming the phone number belonged to him, and that single decision meant the State could not layer custodial admissions on top of its digital evidence. From there we requested full discovery and pretrial notice and worked through the entire evidentiary framework, the subscriber records, the cloud-storage material, the account search, and the seized devices, before we negotiated anything. With the volume of digital evidence the State reported, the realistic battleground was exposure, so we built the mitigation case around our client’s complete lack of prior criminal history.
The result was eight years of deferred adjudication instead of a prison sentence. Deferred adjudication is neither an acquittal nor a dismissal and requires completing every condition of supervision, but it replaced an immediate first-degree felony sentence with a path that can end without a final conviction.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
Frequently Asked Questions
The police took my devices but I haven’t been charged. What should I do?
You are in the investigation window — the most important time to act. Do not agree to an interview, do not try to explain, and do not wait for charges to hire counsel. A lawyer who engages now can protect you from the interrogation, communicate with investigators on your behalf, and in some cases affect whether and what charges are filed.
Will my case be prosecuted in state or federal court?
It depends on who ran the investigation and the facts alleged. Tarrant County prosecutes state charges under Penal Code 43.26 at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center; cases developed by federal agencies are charged in the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, where some offenses carry mandatory minimum sentences. We defend both, and the venue shapes strategy from the first day.
How long do these cases take in Tarrant County?
Often far longer than people expect. Device forensics can take months before an indictment is ever presented, and complex cases can run a year or more. That timeline is not wasted time when the defense is using it — reviewing the forensic record, challenging the search, and preparing for the State’s case.
Will I have to register as a sex offender?
A conviction under Penal Code 43.26 requires sex offender registration. That is one of the central reasons these cases must be fought on the front end — over the search, the forensics, and what the State can actually prove — rather than resolved quickly.
Can these charges be reduced or dismissed?
Some are. Outcomes depend on the lawfulness of the search, what the forensic evidence actually shows about knowing possession, and the strength of the State’s proof on age and identity. No lawyer can promise a result — but these cases are more defensible than most people assume, and the defenses are technical ones an experienced team knows how to build.
Talk to a Fort Worth Child Pornography Defense Lawyer
Do not talk to investigators before you talk to a lawyer. Call (817) 203-2220 for a confidential consultation, 24 hours a day, or contact us through our secure form. Se habla español.