Mobile Man Sentenced to 200 Months for Distribution of Child Pornography

MOBILE, AL –Austin Dickens was sentenced on March 13, 2026, to 200 months in prison for Distribution of Child Pornography.

According to court documents, in May of 2024, Austin Dickens, 29, used his social media profile to contact other users, offering to sell them up to 6,000 images of child pornography.  Prices ranged from $10 to $50.  To entice buyers, Dickens sent videos and images to users through the social media platform’s messaging application. The material contained children as young as four years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  He received payment for the images and videos through a banking application he established using his personal information.

Following his term of incarceration, Dickens will be placed on supervised release with the United States’ Probation Office for fifteen years. He was ordered to complete mental health and substance abuse treatment.  Lifetime registration under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act is required.  Dickens was ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to the identified victims.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tandice H. Blackwood prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

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. 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.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc/publications-resources