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Department of Justice United States Attorney Candace G. Hill Contact: Dawn Masden |
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October 7, 2009
FORMER WKU STUDENT PLEADS GUILTY TO DISTRIBUTION, RECEIPT, AND POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
– Used WKU campus computer network and Limewire to make child pornography available to others
LOUISVILLE, KY - Keith Hamilton Hartman, age 39, of Bowling Green, Kentucky, in Warren County, plead guilty to distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography, United States Attorney Candace G. Hill announced today.
Facts
Hartman admitted that on between June 2, 2007 and August 6, 2007, while a student at Western Kentucky University, he downloaded images of child pornography to his computer, using the internet, and made a number of these images available to others using Limewire, the WKU computer network, and the internet. Hartman's crimes were discovered when another student accessed the images online.
Prior Court Action
Hartman was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 1, 2009. In June of 2008, Hartman plead guilty to 3 counts of first degree rape of a victim under the age of twelve; 3 counts of first degree sodomy of a victim under the age of twelve; 5 counts of first degree sexual abuse of a child under the age of twelve, and 6 other sex related counts.
Because of Hartman's prior conviction, the maximum potential penalties are 100 years’ imprisonment, a $750,000 fine, and a lifetime term of supervised release.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States 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.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ann Claire Phillips and was investigated by the Western Kentucky University Campus Police, the Bowling Green Police Department, and the United States Secret Service.
The plea was entered before Thomas B. Russell, Chief Judge, United States District Court, Louisville, Kentucky.
Hartman is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Russell on January 19, 2010, at 12:00 p.m., in Louisville, Kentucky.
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