Charleston Man Sentenced to 20Years in Federal Prison for Producing and Possessing Child Sexual Abuse Material

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Evan Riley Bucci, 23, of Charleston, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to two counts of production of child pornography* and one count of possession of child pornography.

Evidence presented to the court showed that in 2022 law enforcement was alerted that Bucci had been seeking out minors on social media apps, such as Omegle and Instagram, and was engaging in sexually explicit conversations centering around bondage and sexual servitude. There were multiple female victims ranging in age from 12 to 16 years old. Bucci cultivated relationships with these minors, gained their trust, and then coerced them into sending him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves. Bucci would threaten to harm or kidnap the child's family members if they did not send the materials.

United States District Judge Richard Gergel sentenced Bucci to 240 months' imprisonment, to be followed by a lifetime of court-ordered supervision. There is no parole in the federal system. Bucci was also ordered to pay restitution to the victims of his crimes.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.

This case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations, with valuable assistance the Steamboat Springs, Colorado Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katie Orville is prosecuting the case.

HSI's Know2Protect: Together We Can Stop Online Child Exploitation campaign offers valuable resources to combat the escalating crisis of online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Visit www.dhs.gov/know2protect to learn strategies to stop future victimization.

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NOTE: While the current federal statutes still contain the term "child pornography," experts in the field now recognize "child sexual abuse material" as the more accurate terminology.