Former Anderson County Band Director Sentenced for Production of Child Pornography

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A former Anderson County High School Band Director and teacher, Patrick Howard Brady, 38, was sentenced on Thursday, by U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell, to 25 years in prison, for production of child pornography.

Brady was a teacher at Anderson County High School and served as the band director until May 15, 2023. According to his plea agreement, Brady used text messaging, FaceTime, and a social media app (VSCO), to engage a minor into a romantic and sexual relationship. Specifically, beginning in the summer of 2022, Brady and the victim engaged in a sexually explicit relationship, starting via text, calls, and FaceTime, eventually occurring in person, multiple times, including at the high school.

Law enforcement began investigating the relationship between Brady and the victim in May 2023. When law enforcement arrested Brady and seized his cell phone, he had removed the VSCO application from his phone. Brady admitted that, on two or more occasions, he knowingly used a minor victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of transmitting live visual depictions of that conduct.

Under federal law, Brady must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for life.

Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Michael E. Stansbury, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office; Russell Coleman, Kentucky Attorney General; and Col. Phillip J. Burnett, Jr., Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI, Kentucky Attorney General's Office, and Kentucky State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Melton is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

The U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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