Ashland Man Sentenced To 15 Years For Distributing Child Pornography

ASHLAND, Ky. – A Catlettsburg man, Steven Darrell Duncil, 36, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, to be followed by a 20-year term of supervised release, for knowingly distributing child pornography.

On Monday, United States District Judge David L. Bunning formally sentenced Duncil, who had previous felony convictions for Prohibited Use of Electronic Communications to Procure a Minor (Sex Offense) and Criminal Attempt of Unlawful Transaction with a Minor in the First Degree, from 2007.  Duncil must serve 85 percent of his federal prison sentence.

Duncil previously admitted in federal court that, in June of 2016, he knowingly distributed images of child pornography via ChatStep, a web chat service.  The investigation was initiated by a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).  The Kentucky State Police Electronic Crimes Branch (ECB), in coordination with the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force obtained a search warrant for Duncil’s residence after investigating the report.  

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Steven Igyarto, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations; and Richard Sanders, Commissioner, Kentucky State Police, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the DHS-HSI and KSP-ECB.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney David Marye.