PALESTINE — A Palestine man will likely spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted on 20 child pornography charges.
Troy Mason, 51, was sentenced to 200 years in prison after investigators found almost 1,500 images and videos depicting child pornography.
According to testimony, Palestine police executed a search warrant for Mason's house. Officers seized three computers and numerous thumb drivers and removable hard drives.
Police determined there was child pornography on five of the seized devices and submitted the evidence to the Attorney General's office. Det. Jamie Jinkins of the Lufkin Police Department, who analyzed the files, testified there were nearly 1,500 images and videos depicting child pornography.
Testimony revealed the child pornography was in a sharable format through Limewire, a file-sharing software.
“We, as a society, have a great responsibility to our children," District Attorney Allyson Mitchell said. "We must protect them from exploitation by predators like Troy Mason. To know that in this day and age there are still children being brutally raped and videoed for the pleasure of someone like Mason is sickening.”
Mason was found guilty of 20 counts of promotion of child pornography on Dec. 6. The next day, the jury sentenced him to 20 years on each count.
Judge Pam Foster Fletcher ordered the first 10 counts to run consecutively and counts next 10 counts to run concurrently with the tenth count. Added together, Mason will spend 200 years in prison.
Mitchell says she is grateful for the jury's decision and hopes other predators or potential predators are paying attention.
"This will be a message of deterrence to others who subscribe to and promote child pornography in our community. The child pornography industry must be eliminated. Every child deserves to be safe from such abuse and exploitation.”
“This was one of the most troubling cases I have ever seen," Capt. Mark Harcrow of the Palestine Police Department said. "Our Investigators and the District Attorney’s worked hard to get this guy off the
streets and our community is safer because of that.”
Mason is also awaiting trial for continuous sexual abuse of a young child, assault on a public servant and evading arrest in a vehicle.
