A 57-year-old pastor in Texas admitted to having an enormous trove of BDSM and bestiality-themed child pornography on his various electronic devices.
David Lloyd Walther pleaded guilty last week in federal court to one enhanced count of possession of child pornography, according to court documents.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, Walther knowingly ‘searched for, downloaded, distributed and possessed child sexual abuse material, including child pornography – some of which depicted prepubescent minors.’
The office said Walther used BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file sharing network to download more than 100,000 images and more than 5,000 videos of child sexual abuse material, which were found during a November 2022 search of his home and car.
If convicted, Walther faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
David Lloyd Walther, a former pastor at the Faith Baptist Church in Round Rock, Texas, pleaded guilty to one enhanced count of possession of child pornography
Walther was formerly the pastor at the Faith Baptist Church in Round Rock, about 20 miles north of Austin
At the time of his arrest, Walther was serving as the pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Round Rock, Texas, about 20 miles north of Austin.
Federal investigators said they traced downloads of the child sexual abuse material to an IP address connected to the Faith Baptist Church.
According to the affidavit, ‘On our about September 18, 2022, at 0015 hours, a successful download of child pornography was obtained from IP address 69.212.115.82 via BitTorrent.’
‘On October 6, 2022, information from AT&T, in response to legal process, indicated that the subscriber of IP address 69.212.115.82, at 0015 hours on September 18, 2022, was Defendant WALTHER at his personal residence in Georgetown, Texas.’
‘IP address 69.212.115.82 is a static IP address and has been assigned only to Defendant WALTHER’s residence since May 3, 2022, when Walther’s account was initialed at that location,’ it read.
Search warrants were subsequently executed on November 9, 2022, during which time authorities seized two large computer hard drives full of the child sexual abuse material.
In a probable cause affidavit, prosecutors wrote that Walther had a computer folder titled ‘BDSM,’ which contained graphic material of children.
After the search warrants were executed, prosecutors say Walther agreed to speak with federal agents voluntary and was told at the time that he was not under arrest.
Allegedly, Walther admitted to a pornography addiction. He said he would ‘go through cycles of downloading and viewing pornography depicting both adults and minors.’
He added that when he viewed child pornography, the children featured were ‘between 8 and 17 years old, either posing sexually or engaged in sex acts with adults or children,’ read the affidavit, providing a summary but not a direct transcript of the defendant’s statement.
Walther told authorities that he had a history of ‘purging’ the illegal material when he felt guilty, understanding that what he’d done was wrong.
If convicted, Walther is looking at up to 20 years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine
The FBI is investigating the case via the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force run out of the FBI’s San Antonio division
The FBI is investigating the case via the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force run out of the FBI’s San Antonio division. They are being assisted by the Round Rock Police Department, Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, and the Williamson County Children’s Advocacy Center.
Assistant US Attorney Matthew Devlin is prosecuting the case.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk