Bolivar Man Convicted Of Production And Possession Of Child Pornography

Jackson, TN – John McKinney, 71, of Bolivar, TN was convicted today of four counts of producing child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton III.

It took the jury approximately 10 minutes to find McKinney guilty on all charges. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison for each of the production counts and a minimum of 10 years on the possession count. He could receive up to 140 years in prison. There is no parole in the federal prison system.

“The jury’s verdict clearly demonstrates that this community will not tolerate predatory acts like the ones carried out by John McKinney,” said U.S. Attorney Stanton. “We have an obligation to protect our most vulnerable citizens – young, innocent children. This office, working together with our law enforcement partners, will relentlessly pursue anyone who commits such heinous crimes and ensure that they face the full consequences of the law.”
According to facts revealed during the trial, McKinney took sexually explicit pictures of girls as young as nine years old while the girls were visiting at his home. According to the sworn testimony of the mother of one victim, her younger daughter saw sexually explicit photos on McKinney’s computer. Investigators confiscated more than 87 CDs from a building on McKinney’s farm that contained pictures that he had taken depicting child pornography.

On June 25, 2013, McKinney was convicted by a federal jury of four counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm or ammunition. The guns and ammunition were discovered during the search of his home that revealed the pornographic photos. He is awaiting sentencing in that case and is facing up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.

This case is being investigated by the Hardeman County Sheriff’s Office, the Jackson Police Department and the FBI in Jackson. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Deb Ireland and James Powell represent the government.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about PSC, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/resources.html and click on the tab "resources."