Nashville Man Sentenced to 55 Years In Federal Prison For Production And Transportation Of Child Pornography

Damion Faulkner, 33, of Nashville, Tenn., was sentenced yesterday by Chief U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw to 55 years in prison for producing and transporting child pornography, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Jack Smith of the Middle District of Tennessee.

On July 15, 2015, a federal grand jury in Nashville, Tenn. returned a 15-count indictment, charging Faulkner with production, receipt, possession and transportation of child pornography. He pleaded guilty to all counts on September 16, 2016.

“The sentence imposed by the Court reflects the atrocious actions of the defendant and society’s need to punish the offender and insure that no other innocent children will become a victim of his perverted sexual desires,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jack Smith.

According to documents filed with the court, beginning in July 2013, Faulkner produced a pornographic video and still images of a 5-year old girl and another pre-pubescent girl who were staying at the residence where Faulkner lived. Some of the images and the video depicted Faulkner sexually molesting the 5-year old as she slept. Faulkner subsequently distributed the images and video of the five-year-old girl to at least ten different individuals and possibly many more, often identifying her name and/or relationship to him.

The documents also describe many of Faulkner’s email conversations with others, in which he discussed his sexual attraction to young girls, offered advice on how to groom a young girl in preparation for engaging in sex and also discussed his molestation of another prepubescent girl in years past.

On January 3, 2014, Metro Nashville Police detectives executed a search warrant at Faulkner’s home. As a result of that search, detectives found 3,745 images depicting child pornography and 103 videos, most of which were of pre-pubescent girls, some as young as toddlers.

This investigation began in late 2013 when an investigator with the Vancouver, Washington Police Department Digital Evidence Cybercrime Unit discovered that an individual using a specific email address was trading images depicting the sexual exploitation of children with another individual under investigation by the same unit. Further investigation indicated that the individual using this email address was located in Nashville, Tennessee, and the case was referred to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Local detectives were able to identify the individual using that email address as Damion Faulkner.

As a result of this investigation, Nashville Metro detectives were able to initiate and refer investigations, which resulted in 13 additional persons being charged in seven other states. To date, 12 of those have pleaded guilty to various charges involving child pornography.

This case is the result of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a national network of 61 coordinated task forces representing over 3,500 federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies. These agencies are continually engaged in proactive and reactive investigations and prosecutions of persons involved in child abuse and exploitation involving the internet.

This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Caran S. Daughtrey.