Man sentenced for online activities with a minor

OXFORD, Miss. - A Byhalia, Mississippi man was sentenced today to more than 15 years in prison for transmitting sexual conduct with a minor over the Internet.

According to court documents, Thomas Taylor, 29, was identified as part of Operation Renewed Hope, an operation run by Homeland Security Investigations to identify victims and perpetrators of known child sexual exploitation videos. Taylor admitted to using a video chat mobile application to communicate on live video with others over the Internet. While on the live video, Taylor masturbated and revealed a minor's genitals and anus to the audience. A recording was made of the incident which has appeared in other investigations related to trafficking of child sexual abuse materials.

On Tuesday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock sentenced Taylor to 200 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release.

"Minor victims of sexual abuse and exploitation often face a life-time of far-reaching consequences as a result of the reprehensible acts committed by their perpetrators," remarked U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner. "This office is committed to holding accountable those individuals who sexually exploit minors and we appreciate the outstanding work by HSI and AUSA King to do just that."

"These despicable crimes are beyond comprehension," said HSI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Eric DeLaune. "This criminal will now be held accountable for his vile crimes."

The Department of Homeland Security investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Parker S. King prosecuted the case as part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative. Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. 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. The goal of Project Safe Childhood is to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children.