Possessing child pornography gets Waxahachie man 20 years

WAXAHACHE – Richard Austin Bisbing, 62, of Waxahachie, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for 37 counts of possession of child pornography, according to a statement from Ellis County and District Attorney Ann Montgomery.

The sentences for the offenses will run concurrently. Possession of child pornography normally carries a punishment range of 2 to 10 years in prison; however, these cases were enhanced based on Bisbing’s prior 1987 conviction for aggravated sexual assault with a deadly weapon.  

The enhanced punishment changed the prison sentence range to a maximum of twenty years. 

In March 2021, the Dallas Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit provided the Waxahachie Police Department with information from a cyber tipline.

A user located in Waxahachie had uploaded an image of child pornography to MeWe, a social networking app.  

Waxahachie Police Department Detective Elizabeth Glidewell investigated, and traced the user back to Bisbing.

During her investigation, Glidewell recognized some of Bisbing’s MeWe user information as the same information Bisbing previously provided on his sex offender registration – required by his 1987 conviction.

Search warrants of Bisbing’s electronic devices produced multiple images and videos of children being sexually abused. 

“Unfortunately, these cases are all too common,” stated Montgomery. “We typically do not know the identities of the children being sexually abused in the images, but we do know that each child was victimized in its creation.

“My office will continue to prosecute offenders such as Bisbing who possess, download, and view these unspeakable and vile images.” 

Assistant County and District Attorneys Ashley Indelicato and Grace Pandithurai prosecuted the cases and were assisted by County and District Attorney Investigator Joe Aguilar and Victim’s Assistance Coordinator Jamie Morales.