A 57-year-old pastor in Texas will spend years behind bars after he admitted to having a trove of BDSM and bestiality-themed child sexual abuse material (CSAM), some of which authorities said he downloaded and saved on a computer belonging to his church. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman on Thursday ordered David Lloyd Walther to serve a sentence of six years in a federal correctional facility, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show
“Many families in the Round Rock area placed their trust in this man when he served as a leader in faith for their community,” U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas said in a statementfollowing the sentencing hearing. “I hope that those families can find comfort in knowing our law enforcement partners and justice system are committed to protecting them, ensuring that predators such as Walther cannot continue to pose a threat to innocent children.”
Federal authorities said that Walther knowingly searched for, downloaded, distributed, and possessed CSAM, including child pornography — some of which depicted prepubescent minors — using BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file-sharing network.