ABILENE, TX – An Abilene man has been sentenced to serve probation after pleading guilty to leaving pornographic images of what appear to be children in various locations around town for years.
John Faulkner, 65, pleaded guilty to Invasive Visual Recording Tuesday and received a 4-year deferred adjudication sentence. He was also ordered to serve 45 days in jail and pay $1,000 fine.
Faulkner was arrested after police searched his home in connection to an ongoing investigation regarding a photograph found at the Yesway convenience store on the 3900 block of S. 1st Street in August 2018.
Court documents state the picture, which depicted a female, who appeared to be underage, engaging in sexual activity with a grown man, had an explicit message on the back. Similar pictures and messages have been found by Yesway customers and employees in the past.
“These photographs were printed on similar HP photograph paper as other photographs seized around Abilene over the past several years that were left by unknown suspects,” the documents reveal.
Surveillance video from the Yesway store of the most recent incident shows a man drive up in a truck, which matches the description of Faulkner’s truck(the parking lot is clean at this point), get out, go inside, make a purchase, then leave – opening the door of his truck twice before pulling away.
Once the truck leaves, the video shows an item, later identified as the picture, on the ground. It wasn’t there before the truck arrived.
Investigators turned their attention toward Faulkner after confirming his debit card was used to make a purchase at the time of the incident, and DPS identified him as a possible owner of the truck.
A search warrant was executed at his home, allowing officers to book 4 photographs of an unknown description into evidence.
