Sanford Man Sentenced to Five Years for Transporting Child Pornography

Portland, Maine:  United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that Rusty Hood, 38, of Sanford, Maine, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Chief Judge Nancy Torresen to five years in prison and ten years of supervised release for transporting child pornography. Hood pleaded guilty on January 29, 2018.

According to court records, in May 2016, Hood chatted online with an individual in Ohio. During the chat, the two men exchanged images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Hood claimed during the chat that he was interested in babies, and that he had engaged in sexual activity with a young girl.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit and the Sanford Police Department.  This case was 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. 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.