Raceland Man Sentenced to 120 Months for Possession of Child Pornography

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A Raceland, Kentucky, man, Gary Kendall, age 66, was sentenced in federal court on Monday, to 120 months in prison, by U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning, for possession of child pornography.           

According to his plea agreement, Kentucky State Police began investigating Kendall based on a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). According to the tip, the electronic service provider Chatstep reported to NCMEC that it had information that, on or about January 6, 2017, a suspected image of child pornography had been uploaded by a user of its internet chat service.  A search executed at Kendall’s residence revealed a hard drive with five images depicting sexual images of females who were under 12 years old.  Kendall admitted that he used Chatstep and that he would go to the site, pretending that he was a little girl, to upload images.  Kendall was already a lifetime registered sex offender at the time of the investigation. Kendall previously was convicted in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of West Virginia of receiving child pornography in March 2001.   

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; James Robert Brown, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, FBI Louisville Field Division; and Commissioner Rodney Brewer, Kentucky State Police, made the announcement. 

The investigation was directed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kentucky State Police. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily K. Greenfield.

Under federal law, Kendall must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence and will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 15 years, following his release.

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 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.

The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice. Learn more about the history of our agency at www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years.

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