Volunteer firefighter from Azle pleads guilty to federal child porn charges

A former volunteer fire captain from Azle pleaded guilty in North Texas federal court last month to a charge of sexual exploitation of a child, according to court documents obtained by the Star-Telegram.

Travis Reed, who was a fire captain with the now-defunct Briar Volunteer Fire Department, admitted to coercing a minor into producing child pornography in September, according to a summary of facts in the case. Reed was arrested at the Port of Galveston cruise ship terminal as he returned from a cruise in Mexico two months later.

Agents with Customs and Border Patrol found the images as they inspected Reed’s iPhone, according to court documents. The phone was seized for forensic analysis by Homeland Security agents.

A later search of Reed’s home uncovered decor similar to that which was observed in the lewd images, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case. A parent of the minor victim later positively identified the child and told authorities the photos had been taken at Reed’s home.

Prior to the federal offense, Reed had already been convicted of a 2014 child sex crime in Tarrant County, and was a registered sex offender, according to court documents.

It took jurors less than two hours to convict Reed in the 2014 case, for which he served eight years in prison, the Star-Telegram reported at the time.

Reed is set for sentencing in September. He faces between 25 and 50 years in prison.