GONZALES WOMAN SENTENCED TO 125 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR RECEIPT OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

United States Attorney Kurt L. Wall announced that U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson sentenced Hannah Kinchen, age 41, of Gonzales, Louisiana, to 125 months in federal prison following her conviction for receiving child sexual abuse material produced by a photographer she arranged to take the images. The Court further sentenced Kinchen to serve five years of supervised release following her term of imprisonment and ordered her to complete sex offender treatment and register as a sex offender upon her release.

According to admissions made during her guilty plea, beginning in at least July of 2020 and continuing through at least February 2021, Kinchen communicated with a photographer who self-identified as a pedophile, using the Internet, about the minor victim’s modeling career, among other topics.

She coordinated and transported the minor victim to photoshoots with the photographer, in Louisiana and elsewhere. Kinchen was present during these photoshoots, permitted the photographer to photograph the minor victim in scanty attire, including thongs and G-string bikinis, and collaborated in posing the minor victim. Some of the resulting photographs qualified as child pornography and some were later sold.

On or about August 1, 2020, the photographer sent Kinchen most of the images through a file-sharing website on the internet, which she received and downloaded onto her computer.

“This administration will continue to make the safety of our children a top priority. Thanks to the FBI and Assistant United States Attorney Kristen Craig for their hard work in this case,” stated U.S. Attorney Wall.

“The defendant in this case preyed on an innocent child. The FBI and our partners will do everything in our power to remove child predators from our great nation,” said Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of the FBI's New Orleans Field Office.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kristen Lundin Craig.

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 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 Justice.gov/PSC.