A former preschool teacher in Abilene, Texas, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for producing child pornography involving two young boys, ages 12 and 13. Mark Penfield Aychon, 28, was sentenced to the highest possible sentence before US District Judge James Wesley Hendrix. Acorn was also ordered to pay $66,087.50 in reparations.
Acorn was indicted in June 2024 and pleaded guilty in October 2024 to the production of child pornography. Aichon admitted that he paid two young boys, ages 12 and 13, to record videos of each other sexually engaged in sexual activity. In his sentence, Judge Hendrix told Ihorn that the biggest sentence was justified, particularly for “protection of the public.” When imposing the biggest sentence, Judge Hendrix said, “I have to make a lot of difficult decisions. This is not one of them.”
Chad E. Meacham, the US lawyer for the Northern District of Texas, announced the ruling Thursday, saying, “It is the firm’s central mission to stop the horrifying behavior towards children, such as those children in this case.
According to court documents, Aichon has admitted that since 2019 he has suffered from the desire to sexually assault children. During this time he continued to work with his children. Kindergarten teachers have admitted to being involved in child pornography trading groups across various internet platforms such as Kik and Telegram. Aichon confessed to owning and trading child pornography from the Reserve Bureau online. Among the disturbing material was a video involving children between the ages of 10 and 12 who are engaged in sexually explicit behavior.
At the time of his arrest, Aichon was a teacher at Abilene’s private school. Authorities say Eichon has contacted one of the child victims in the incident and offered to send him $100 a week to “Sugar Daddy.” Aichon then admitted to paying hundreds of dollars to both victims to create a video of herself engaged in sexually explicit behavior.
The joint investigation into Acorn’s activities included special agents assigned to ice homeland security investigations, including the Abilene Residents Agency, the Abilene Police Department and the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia. US lawyer Whitney Olhausen has indicted the case.
The lawsuit was filed to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse as part of Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006.
Randy Clark He is a 32-year veteran of the US Border Patrol. Before retiring, he served as Chief of Law Enforcement Business and oversaw the operations of nine Border Patrol Bureaus in Del Rio, Texas. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @randyclarkbbtx.
