Madison County Man Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison for Cyberstalking, Extortion, and Production of Child Pornography

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. –  A New Hope man was sentenced today for stalking and extorting a woman and producing child pornography involving two minor victims, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Carlton L. Peeples.

U.S. District Court Judge Liles C. Burke sentenced Donald Wayne Carmody, 29, of New Hope, Alabama, to 480 months in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release. In December, Carmody pleaded guilty to cyberstalking, extortion, and production of child pornography. These convictions will require Carmody to register as a sex offender in accordance with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

According to the plea agreement, Carmody used anonymous text messages to threaten to release pictures of the victim on the internet if she did not send him intimate photographs. Carmody also obtained the victim’s login credentials for her social media accounts and accessed their contents. After Carmody was arrested on cyberstalking and extortion charges for this conduct, investigators discovered a USB thumb drive belonging to him that contained images of child pornography involving two victims under the age of twelve. The FBI’s Video Forensic Analysis Unit compared the images from the thumb drive, which showed a person’s hand, to pictures of Carmody’s hands taken during the investigation. The Unit identified similar class and distinguishing characteristics between the images, demonstrating that the hand in the images on the thumb drive belonged to Carmody.    

The FBI investigated the case. Valuable assistance was provided by the Madison County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney John M. Hundscheid prosecuted the case.

If you suspect or become aware of possible sexual exploitation of a child, please contact law enforcement. To alert the FBI Birmingham Office, call 205-326-6166. Reports can also be filed with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) or online at www.cybertipline.org.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. For more resources on cybercrime, visit www.ic3.gov.