Travis Sanders

The former general manager and assistant coach of the Southern Tier Xpress was taken into custody in Texas after being charged by criminal complaint with receipt and distribution of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

The case involving 32-year-old Travis Sanders was brought to the attention of Homeland Security Investigations by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police National Child Exploitation Center. Canadian authorities had learned that some communicating with a person with the username “Damion Forsberg” on Skype. The report indicated that “Forsberg” regularly shared pornography that sometimes included children in the content, and was believed to reside in Buffalo or Florida.

An investigation determined that “Forsberg” was actually Sanders, who resided at the time in the Jamestown area.

Sanders was with the Southern Tier Xpress before he was named in July as the head coach of the Texas Jr. Brahmas of the North American Tier III Hockey League. In an interview at the time with The Post-Journal, Sanders said he was excited for the coaching opportunity.

“I heard a lot of great things (about the program) leading up to my trip to Texas just from my hockey friends in the junior hockey community,” Sanders said. “The expectations that were set were exceeded with what I got to see and do with this organization.”

According to the team’s website, Sanders is no longer the coach of the Texas Jr. Brahmas.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said authorities seized Sanders’ laptop and cellphone where images and videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct were found. The preliminary examination of the phone did not immediately reveal visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct but did reveal social networking applications with the alias “Damion Forsberg.” Officers also discovered that Sanders was chatting with a self-proclaimed minor female in seventh grade, from whom he requested her Snapchat account.

Sanders was arrested in Texas and made an initial appearance in the Northern District of Texas. He is being detained and will be returned to Western New York at a later date.

The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum of 20 years and a $250,000 fine.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office on Wednesday asked the anyone with information related to the case to contact the HSI Buffalo office at 464-6070. “HSI victim-witness specialists will be available to assist any parent or guardian should they need victim-related resources,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.