St. Augustine Registered Child Sex Offender Sentenced To 15 Years For Soliciting A Child To Produce Sex Abuse Video

Jacksonville, Florida – United States District Judge Brian J. Davis has sentenced Kenneth Brian Hanger (47, St. Augustine) to 15 years in federal prison for attempting to entice a child over the internet to produce a sexually explicit video of herself. Hanger was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release. In 1994, Hanger was convicted of aggravated indecent assault of a 4-year-old child in Pennsylvania and was required to register as a child sex offender. Hanger has been detained since his arrest on June 5, 2018. He had pleaded guilty to this charge on December 18, 2018. 

According to court documents, on May 22, 2018, a detective with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office (SJSO) reviewed sex offender registration information provided by Hanger. Hanger disclosed his use of a social media account that did not list his true name. Posing as a 13-year-old child, the detective sent a “friend request” to this account, and Hanger accepted the request and made online contact with the “child.” Between May 24 and June 5, 2018, Hanger and the “child” engaged in online conversations on several occasions using a texting application. Hanger was advised, and acknowledged several times, that the “child” was 13 years old. 

On June 1, 2018, Hanger raised the topic of sexual activity between himself and the “child” and suggested meeting to engage in sex. On June 4, 2018, Hanger and the “child” again discussed meeting for sex, and Hanger sent the “child” an explicit photo of himself. Later that day, Hanger asked the “child” to send him a sexually explicit video. The following day, SJSO detectives arrested Hanger at his home. During an interview, Hanger admitted that he engaged in online conversation with the 13-year-old “child,” that he had sent “her” a photo of his own genitalia, and that he had stated that he intended to engage in sex with the “child.”      

“This previously convicted sex offender has proven to society that he remains a threat to our communities,” said HSI Tampa Special Agent in Charge James C. Spero. “This sentencing represents the hard work of HSI, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.”      

This case was investigated by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations as part of Operation “Rip Current.” It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.