South Carolina Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison for Using Fake Facebook Profiles to Meet and Coerce Six Colorado Teenagers into Taking and Sending Him Explicit Photographs

DENVER – Christopher George White, age 38, of McCormick, South Carolina, was sentenced last week by U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson to serve 30 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime term of supervised release, for his conviction on six counts of coercion and enticement of a minor, Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer and Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge John Eisert announced. White, who was remanded to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons following the hearing, used social media, text, and telephone calls to meet, entice, and then threaten minors into taking off clothing or committing sex acts for his own personal pleasure.

According to the stipulated facts contained in the plea agreement, between June 30, 2014 and August 4, 2014 White, targeted child victims ranging from 13 to 14 years of age by using Facebook profiles “Kent Noelle” and “Glenn Black.” White claimed to be a teenage boy while he was truly a 35-year-old man and previously convicted sex offender. He used those profiles to correspond with minor girls, including the six minor girls from Colorado. After first befriending them online, and then texting and even talking with the minors by phone, the defendant then began to use harassment, threats of physical harm, and threats to post sexually-explicit photographs of the children or their friends on social media, all in an effort to coerce the teenagers to produce and send him child pornography of themselves.

After pleading guilty to the six counts in this case, but before his sentence was announced, White continued to contact other minor girls from prison to harass them or engage in graphic phone sex with them. When White’s phone privileges were curtailed, he used another inmate’s access to continue contacting teenage girls from prison.

“HSI’s and our prosecutors’ forensic skill at catching these predators is second to none,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer. “But the absolute best way to protect your kids from being preyed upon like this is to keep an eye on their behavior and phone and computer use.”

“This child exploitation case is an example of HSI’s commitment, in partnership with the Department of Justice, to track, investigate and prosecute child predators to the fullest extent of the law,” said John Eisert, acting special agent in charge of HSI Denver. “HSI has an active and ongoing Operation Predator program to identify criminals who prey on children. Operation Predator helps make our communities safer by bringing criminals to justice for their despicable exploitation of our children.”

This case was investigated by HSI and the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina.

White is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Tonini and Gregory Holloway.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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.justice.gov/psc.