Former Congressional Staffer Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges

A former staffer to a Texas congressman pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of receiving child pornography.

In his guilty plea James Maines Jr., 54, admitted that in November 2012 he attempted to forward five child exploitation images he had gotten off the Internet from his personal email account to his U.S. House of Representatives account, according to a Department of Justice release.

The Department of Justice says that it uncovered child exploitation images on Maines’s computer that he had downloaded as early as 2004.

Maines served as the deputy district director for Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX6). Maines is scheduled to be sentenced on March 16, 2016.

Barton’s office did not immediately release a statement