A registered sex offender federal investigators say posed as a girls soccer recruiter is facing up to 40 years behind bars after admitting to receiving child porn on his computer, the Department of Justice says.
Michael Ansley Twing, 43, was charged on May 18 and pleaded guilty to receiving child porn on Wednesday.
According to court documents cited by the DOJ, Twing, who was already a registered sex offender, "acquired sexually explicit images of minor girls on his laptop" that had been downloaded via eMule, a file-sharing program similar to BitTorrent.
During a detention hearing, prosecutors said Twing had been posing as a recruiter or a local university under the name Michael Krogen. The DOJ did not say which university but did say there is no evidence of any wrongdoing by the school and that the school is cooperating fully in the investigation.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
According to the DOJ, investigators searching Twing's bedroom found a note printed on university letterhead in which he, as Krogen, claimed to be a recruiter. They also found a roster of high school soccer players and found at least one text in which he asked a coach for contact information for a student.
Investigators would like to speak with anyone aware of a minor who may have had inappropriate contact with Twing, aka Michael Krogen or Christopher Michael Crogen, at a soccer tournament or elsewhere and asked that they call Tarrant County Crimestoppers at 817-469-TIPS (8477) or 469TIPS.com.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
The DOJ described Twing as white and standing 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighing about 195 pounds. He has dark blonde hair and blue eyes and wears glasses.
Twing faces up to 40 years in federal prison on the child porn charge. Sentencing is set for Oct. 21 in Fort Worth.
The DOJ said the U.S. Secret Service's Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Texas Department of Public Safety's Hurst Special Investigations Unit, the Fort Worth Police Department's Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) and Sex Offender Investigations Units, the Grand Prairie Police Department, and the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force.
