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Press Release

Benton City Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison for Production of Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Washington

Spokane– Joseph H. Harrington, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that Robert Cody Cameron Genoway, of Benton City, Washington, was sentenced after previously having plead guilty on July 26, 2017, to production of child pornography. United States District Judge Stanley A. Bastian sentenced Genoway to a 20-year term of imprisonment, to be followed by a 30-year term of court supervision after he is released from federal prison. Genoway will also be required to register as a sex offender.

According to information disclosed during court proceedings, in July of 2016, a detective with the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (SER-ICAC) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) observed an ad on a well-known website seeking a “petite young teeny bopper” for sexual acts. The detective responded to the ad posing as a thirteen (13) year old minor female. During the course of the communications, Genoway described in graphic detail the manner in which he wished to have sexual intercourse with the purported child, including choking the child for his own sexual pleasure, and made multiple attempts to meet the purported child to commit the described sexual acts in Kennewick, Washington. Genoway communicated with the undercover detective for a number of months via text message and e-mail, despite the detective advising that the purported thirteen (13) year old was actually eleven (11) years old.

Genoway was subsequently arrested, and during the course of a post arrest interview, admitted that he sought to meet the purported minor for the purpose of sexual intercourse. Genoway also admitted to engaging in sexual intercourse with another minor female, and to producing child pornography images and videos depicting these acts. Genoway further described that he choked that minor child during the course of his sexual interactions with her.

Through subsequent investigation, law enforcement officers with the SER-ICAC and HSI located the minor victim and learned that Genoway began producing child pornography images of the minor victim when she thirteen (13) years old, and continued to engage in sexual acts with her for a three year period. These images and videos were located among other child pornography images during the course of a forensic examination on Genoway’s electronic devices. Law enforcement officials also learned that Genoway had distributed the child pornography images and sought other adult males to have sexual intercourse with the minor victim.

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Bastian stated that the acts perpetrated by Genoway were “very concerning because it indicates that you were forcible, violent, and dangerous in your sex [acts with the] 13 year old victim.” Judge Bastian further characterized Genoway’s conduct as “egregious,” and advised that Genoway’s “interest in young girls was ongoing and ultimately…led to [Genoway’s] downfall in the undercover enticement investigation.”

Joseph H. Harrington said, “I commend the officers working with Homeland Security Investigations and the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force for their outstanding work in the investigation of this case. This case is yet another example of the remarkable results that local and federal law enforcement officers can accomplished when they work together in partnership. The sentence imposed reflects how egregious Genoway’s criminal conduct was.”

This case was pursued as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the United States Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. The Project Safe Childhood Initiative (“PSC”) has five major components:

• Integrated federal, state, and local efforts to investigate and prosecute child exploitation cases, and to identify and rescue children;

• Participation of PSC partners in coordinated national initiatives;

• Increased federal enforcement in child pornography and enticement cases;

• Training of federal, state, and local law enforcement agents; and

• Community awareness and educational programs.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

Homeland Security Investigations and the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force conducted the investigation of this matter. The case was prosecuted by Laurel J. Holland, an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.

Updated September 22, 2017

Press Release Number: 16-CR-6052-SAB-1