December 19, 2011

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Trenedy Monroe Brooks, 29, of Thorn Hill, Tenn., was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville, to serve125 months in federal prison, by the Honorable Thomas W. Phillips, U.S. District Judge. The sentence was the result of guilty plea by Brooks on August 4, 2011, to a federal information charging him with using a means of interstate commerce to entice a 16 year-old girl to engage in illegal sexual activity and with attempting to use a means of interstate commerce to entice a 13 year-old girl to engage in illegal activity. Brooks attempted to entice the 13 year-old girl to have sex with him while he was released on bond for state aggravated statutory rape charges pertaining to the 16 year-old. Brooks used cellular telephone text messaging and computer messaging to entice and attempt to entice his minor victims to have sexual intercourse with him. Brooks was a deputy with the Grainger County Sheriff’s Office at the time of the offenses.

Following release from federal prison, Brooks will be placed on supervised release for 25 years and will be required to undergo mental health treatment. He will also be required to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act in any state where he resides, works, or attends school.

The indictment and subsequent conviction of Brooks was the result of an investigation conducted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Knoxville Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Morris represented the United States.

U.S. Attorney Bill Killian commented, “This sentence sends a clear message that persons who use means of interstate commerce to prey upon children will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The fact that Brooks was a sworn law enforcement officer at the time of the offenses further justifies the stiff penalty that Judge Phillips imposed.”

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a Department initiative launched in 2006 that aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, tribal 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 visit ProjectSafeChildhood.gov.