Former Round Rock pastor pleads guilty to federal child pornography charges

Fernanda Figueroa, Austin American-Statesman
·2 min read
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A former pastor for the Faith Baptist Church in Round Rock pleaded guilty to an enhanced charge of possession of child pornography on June 27.

David Lloyd Walther, 57 knowingly searched for, downloaded, distributed and possessed child sexual abuse material, including child pornography, according to a press release from the U.S. attorney's office.

Walther was arrested on Nov. 10, 2022, and charged with distribution, receipt, transportation and possession of child pornography. During a search of his home and vehicle, two large computer hard drives were locked and found to contain more than 100,000 images and more than 5,000 videos of child sexual abuse material.

The material that Walther downloaded was made available using BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file sharing network, according to the release.

Walther told authorities that he didn't know he was sharing child pornography through the BitTorrent network and also apologized "for his actions," a federal complaint said.

Walther faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, according to the news release.

Walther served as a pastor for the Faith Baptist Church in Round Rock for the past 18 years.

David Walther, a former pastor for the First Baptist Church of Round Rock, faces federal child pornography charges.
David Walther, a former pastor for the First Baptist Church of Round Rock, faces federal child pornography charges.

Walther told an FBI agent that "he had a pornography addiction and would often go through cycles of downloading and viewing pornography depicting both adults and minors," the complaint said.

He also said that he would download child pornography files "but would often feel guilty and go through a 'purging' of files, i.e., deleting the images and associated files, because he knew it was wrong, and that he last purged files on Nov. 08, 2022, the night before the search warrants were served," according to the complaint.

He said when he viewed the child pornography the children in it were between 8 and 17 years old, according to the complaint.

The FBI San Antonio Division's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, with assistance from the Round Rock Police Department, is investigating the case.

The FBI is investigating the case through the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force out of the FBI’s San Antonio Division, with assistance from the Round Rock Police Department, the Williamson County sheriff’s office, and the Williamson County Children’s Advocacy Center, the release said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Former Texas pastor pleads guilty to federal child pornography charges