Lubbock man faces 20 years in prison after admitting to producing child pornography

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A Lubbock man took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of child pornography. He was initially charged with an additional 10 counts of production of child pornography.

In January 2022, the Lubbock Police Department was forwarded a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicating a Lubbock resident uploaded child pornography to an online file storage account. An investigation revealed that 31-year-old Cameron Akiah Varner was likely the one uploading the child pornography to the account. Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for the contents of Varner’s online file storage account. The results from that search warrant revealed more than 600 images and videos of child pornography.

Court documents show one of the folders in Varner’s file storage account was labeled “Vault” and contained another folder entitled ‘None” that contained numerous photographs and videos that appeared to be surreptitious recordings of a pubescent child. There was additional child pornography stored in the same “Vault” folder.

On April 14, 2022, Iaw enforcement executed a search warrant on Varner’s residence and collected multiple devices from Varner including a cell phone.

Varner’s cell phone had a note saved in it that contained the Snapchat email and password for the account of an identified 15-year-old girl, “Jane Doe,” as well as the cell phone unlock code for Doe’s phone.

One photo in his file storage account showed the 15-year-old nude in a bathroom. Investigators note the placement of the camera shows Varner intended the child’s genitals to be the focal point of the recording. The photos were taken at a residence in Lubbock, the federal court documents show.

Varner admits and agrees that he engaged in a pattern of activity involving the sexual exploitation of a minor by producing child pornography on at least two occasions.

In addition to the photographs of Doe, Varner had a collection of child pornography that he stored in his only file storage account.

Varner admits and agrees that his collection of child pornography included more than 600 images, including some of prepubescent minors and images involving sadistic and masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence.

Varner is currently in the Lubbock Co. Detention Center on a federal detainer. He faces five to 20 years in prison, five years to life of supervised release, and has to register as a sex offender. His sentencing date has not been set.

He has been in jail since April 22, 2022.

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