A Floresville man who admitted to receiving child pornography has been ordered to spend a decade in federal prison, along with a long stretch of supervision and financial penalties that will follow him well beyond his release.
Nathan Corey Van Zandt, 47, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $90,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to receipt of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery also ordered Van Zandt to register as a sex offender and to serve 10 years of supervised release once he finishes his prison term.
Agents say phone and laptop held thousands of child abuse files
Investigators with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations seized Van Zandt’s cellphone on March 24, 2024, and reported finding more than 6,000 images of child sexual abuse material on the device. A laptop taken during the same probe allegedly contained more than 9,000 additional images and about 400 videos, some involving infants and conduct described as bondage and sadistic. Prosecutors said that cache of files formed the backbone of the federal case and was entered into the record at sentencing, as reported by KABB/Fox San Antonio.
From arrest to guilty plea
Van Zandt was arrested on March 28, 2024, and charged with one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. Court records show he later pleaded guilty to the receipt charge on August 25, 2025. Prosecutors said Van Zandt used file‑sharing software to search for and download sexually explicit images and videos of children, as detailed by the San Antonio Express-News.
Restitution for victims and long-term supervision
At sentencing, Judge Biery ordered Van Zandt to pay $90,000 in restitution, to be divided among 18 identified victims. The court also imposed 10 years of supervised release following his federal prison sentence and required sex-offender registration along with other standard post-release conditions, according to local coverage of the hearing. Prosecutors said the restitution and lengthy supervision period are intended both to compensate victims and to limit Van Zandt’s access to channels that could enable reoffense, as reported by KABB/Fox San Antonio.
Federal initiative behind the investigation
The case was prosecuted under the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood program, a nationwide initiative that coordinates U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and federal partners to investigate and prosecute online child exploitation. Project Safe Childhood is used to marshal resources and task forces that pursue child-exploitation offenses across the country, including cases that involve Homeland Security Investigations. For more on those efforts, see the Department of Justice Project Safe Childhood overview.
Van Zandt is expected to be remanded to federal custody to begin serving his sentence. Court records and press reports describe a multiagency investigation that led to his guilty plea and the sentence imposed Monday. Local authorities did not identify any co-defendants, and prosecutors have characterized the matter as resolved with sentencing complete.
