LEXINGTON, KY — The U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Kentucky reports that a Nicholasville, Ky., man, Cory Johns, 42, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison Wednesday, by U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell, for two counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
Johns was identified, in November 2015, when the Lexington Police Department connected with him via a file sharing program and downloaded images and videos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Thereafter, on April 16, 2016, the Kentucky State Police (KSP) also connected with the Johns via a file sharing program and downloaded images and videos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. KSP then obtained a search warrant for the location associated with the IP address from the downloads, which led to the home where Cory Johns was living. A forensic exam of various electronic devices located in his residence uncovered additional images and videos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Rana Saoud, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Phillip J. Burnett, Commissioner of the KSP, and Lawrence Weathers, Chief of the Lexington Police, jointly announced the sentence.
The investigation was conducted by the HSI, KSP, and the Lexington Police. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erin Roth and Mary Melton.
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.
-END-
