14/08/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 15/08/2024 07:21
PIKEVILLE, Ky. - A Harold, Ky., man, Christopher Hall, 26, was sentenced on Wednesday, by Chief U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves, to 50 years in prison, for production and distribution of child pornography.
According to his plea agreement, on May 29, 2022, Hall produced a video of him sexually abusing a minor. Hall later distributed the video to others using WhatsApp.
Under federal law, Hall 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 10 years.
Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Michael E. Stansbury, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office; and Col. Phillip J. Burnett, Jr., Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, jointly announced the sentence.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and Kentucky State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Blankenship prosecuted 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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