Christian County Man Sentenced To Ten Years In Prison For Child Exploitation Charges
LOUISVILLE, KY –Senior United States District Judge Thomas B. Russell sentenced a Christian County, Kentucky, man today to ten years in prison, followed by a life term supervised release. Percy Edward Stull, Jr., age 43, had previously pled guilty to violating federal child exploitation laws, including attempting to transfer obscene matter to a minor and attempting to persuade a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of that conduct, announced David J. Hale, United State Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.
On September 9, 2011, Stull entered guilty pleas to 24 counts of a 36-count Indictment. According to the federal grand jury Indictment, between November 15, 2010, and January 14, 2011, Stull, using the screen name “crashwk08,” engaged in online communications with an undercover FBI agent posing as a 14-year-old female. On numerous occasions, Stull attempted to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce the fictitious minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of that conduct. The production of child pornography is sexual activity for which a person may be charged with a criminal offense under both federal and Kentucky laws. Also, during the online communications, Stull transmitted obscene material, that is, streaming video of himself masturbating, to what he believed to be the child.
Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless prosecuted the case. The Federal Bureau of Investigation led the investigation with assistance from the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit as part of Kentucky’s Internet Crimes Against Children “ICAC” task force.
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.
