Lexington Man Sentenced To 20 Years For Inducing A Minor To Produce Child Pornography

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Lexington man, Steven Michael Smith, 35, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, to be followed by a life term of supervised release, for inducing a minor to produce sexually explicit images of themselves and transmit those images to him.

On Monday, Senior United States District Judge Joseph M. Hood formally sentenced Smith.  Judge Hood also ordered that Smith’s federal sentence run concurrently with a 15- year sentence he was ordered to serve following convictions in Madison Circuit Court, for Rape Third Degree, Sexual Abuse First Degree, and Intimidating a Participant in the Legal Process, in 2012.  Smith must serve 85 percent of his federal prison sentence.

Smith previously admitted in federal court that, in May of 2010, he persuaded, induced, coerced and enticed the minor victim to produce and send him the sexually explicit images.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Amy Hess, Special Agent in Charge, FBI; Richard Sanders, Commissioner, Kentucky State Police; and David Gregory, Chief of the Berea Police Department, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI, KSP, and Berea Police Department.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney David Marye.