A 69-year-old South Padre Island man charged with child pornography remains in federal custody after telling authorities he has been unable to hire an attorney to represent him.
Howard William Halverson appeared Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald G. Morgan for his preliminary examination hearing. At this hearing, Halverson told the court he could not hire an attorney, according to federal court documents.
Halverson does not qualify for a court-appointed attorney. He was presented with a list of local Criminal Justice Act attorneys that he could contact for assistance, the records state.
Halverson was arrested July 7 at his South Padre Island home.
Authorities allege that computers belonging to Halverson contained 600 files of child pornography.
According to a criminal complaint, Homeland Security Investigation agents served a search warrant July 7 and found two laptop computers and several external hard drives that contained child pornography. Six hundred files were found, the complaint said.
The criminal complaint states that when authorities searched Halverson’s residence they found “open files of child pornography on the computer sitting at the dining room table.”
The complaint also stated a full forensic exam of the digital media is ongoing due to the large volume of devices.
