Texas airline exec found guilty in child porn case
By Christopher Sherman
Topics: From the Wires, News
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Jurors have convicted the founder of a Texas-based cargo airline on child pornography charges.
Pan American Airways founder Robert L. Hedrick was charged with five counts related to child pornography and attempted sexual exploitation of children. Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before finding him guilty Monday.
Prosecutors said the 61-year-old had sexually explicit online conversations with undercover officers posing as 13 and 14-year old girls. Investigators also say they found 2,400 pornographic images on three hard drives in his home.
Hedrick’s attorneys denied it was Hedrick at the keyboard and tried to use the Internet’s thin veil of anonymity to raise jurors’ doubts. They claimed Hedrick had many enemies from his business dealings and personal life who had the motivation and money to set him up.
Related Stories
More Related Stories
-
Here come the tornado truthers. Already
-
Peace Corps to allow gay couples to volunteer together
-
Moore officials: Funds for "safe rooms" were held up by red tape
-
Rand Paul: Congress should apologize to Apple, not the other way around
-
Rescue crews race to find tornado survivors
-
Looting in Oklahoma?
-
Hundreds of low-wage federally contracted workers strike in D.C.
-
Okla. mother's tearful reunion with her 8-year-old son
-
New campaign compares gun control to anti-LGBT discrimination
-
Study: Salt Lake City is gay parenting capital of the U.S.
-
Inhofe and Coburn: Red state hypocrites
-
Teen activist to meet with Abercrombie CEO
-
Watch: Family emerges from storm shelter after tornado
-
Must-see morning clip: Barackalypse Now
-
Okla. tornado survivor reunited with dog trapped in rubble live on camera
-
Is Pope Francis an exorcist?
-
Oklahoma death count confirmed at 24, 9 children
-
Frantic parents search for children in tornado's wake
-
Crews dig through rubble after deadly tornado
-
51 killed in massive Oklahoma tornado
-
Don't cry climate-change wolf
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero -
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke -
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher -
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley -
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite -
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid -
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield -
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin -
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin -
Recent Slide Shows
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
Related Videos
Most Read
-
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid "totally different" from Sandy aid
Jillian Rayfield
-
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook
Mary Elizabeth Williams
-
Facebook's hate speech problem
Mary Elizabeth Williams
-
Revenge, ego and the corruption of Wikipedia
Andrew Leonard
-
GOP attorney general candidate tried to force women to report miscarriages to police
Katie Mcdonough
-
Brad Pitt keeps breaking his silence on how boring marriage to Jennifer Aniston was
Daniel D'Addario
-
Beltway scandal machine breaks, knows nothing about America
Joan Walsh
-
Zach Galifianakis to take formerly homeless woman to "Hangover 3" premiere
Prachi Gupta
-
Inhofe and Coburn: Red state hypocrites
Joan Walsh
-
Anyone regret slashing National Weather Service budget now?
David Sirota
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com

3123 points3124 points3125 points | 2649 comments

147 points148 points149 points | 61 comments

31 points32 points33 points | 11 comments


Comments are not enabled for this story.