East Texas Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Child Pornography Case

An East Texas man has now been sentenced to 30 years in prison for uploading child pornography before attempting to trade the phone he used after Google placed a ban on his account. According to KETK, Dakota Reece will spend 30 years in a state prison for uploading pornographic images of children as young as one year old to his Google account in February.

How the Google CyberTip Started the Investigation

There was a CyberTip that led to the arrest of Dakota Reece that was received by the Smith County Sheriff's Office on January 8 from Google Inc. The tip was in regard to Reece uploading 61 images of child pornography to Google Photos in 2025.

READ MORE: East Texas Arrest After Cyber Tip Investigation

What Investigators Found

Court documents showed that "All 61 media files were photos or videos of nude children ranging in age from approximately 1 year old to approximately 14 years old in provocative positions as well as adults engaging in sexual acts with children as young as 1 year of age."

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Evidence Recovered From the Phone

After a warrant was obtained for Reece's cell phone, investigators learned from an email that the account had been disabled after being flagged for containing harmful content.

Reece then attempted to reset the phone and search for ways to trade it in. On February 5, the Smith County Sheriff's Office spoke with Reece again where he reportedly admitted to having the account before it was disabled. But he didn't know how any child pornography was on his phone. Reece was arrested for possession or promotion of child pornography at that time.

Earlier this week, Reece pled guilty, and Judge Kerry L Russell sentenced him to 30 years in state prison.