Former state police sergeant indicted on child porn charge

EDINBURG, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A grand jury in Hidalgo County indicted a former state police sergeant in August.

The grand jury charged Preston Wade Pietrzykowski, 31, of Edinburg with possession of child pornography.

Preston Wade Pietrzykowski (Photo courtesy of the Texas Department of Public Safety)

Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez Jr. of Edinburg, who represents Pietrzykowski, declined to comment.

Pietrzykowski joined the Texas Department of Public Safety in 2017.

After graduating from the academy, Pietrzykowski worked in Cotulla and Beaumont, according to documents released under the Texas Public Information Act.

In 2020, he received a thank-you letter after conducting a traffic stop near the Texas-Louisiana border.

“He showed the utmost professionalism and kindness to myself and the driver,” according to the letter, which appeared in DPS News, a newsletter for department employees. “With all that is going on in the world of law enforcement, I believe he is a model of what police officers really are here in south east Texas and south west Louisiana!”

Pietrzykowski joined the Tactical Marine Unit in 2021. Within three years, he worked his way up to staff sergeant.

“Staff Sergeant Pietrzykowski also regularly deploys to Eagle Pass for Operation Lone Star,” according to his December 2024 evaluation, which the department released under the Public Information Act.

In February 2025, however, Pietrzykowski’s wife suspected that he was having an affair.

While searching for signs of infidelity, she discovered a hard drive that contained “multiple images of female friends, along with images that looked like minor female children nude,” according to a criminal complaint filed against Pietrzykowski.

The criminal complaint described the images as deepfakes, a term that typically describes images created with artificial intelligence tools.

After reviewing the images, the Texas Rangers charged Pietrzykowski with possession of child pornography, a third-degree felony.

Prosecutors took the case to a grand jury in August.

Pietrzykowski is scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 17. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.