Convicted Sex Offender Pleads Guilty To Production Of Child Pornography

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Brian Marchez Byrd, a registered sex offender living in Louisville, pleaded guilty yesterday before United States District Judge Benjamin Beaton to producing child pornography, transportation of child pornography, and committing a felony against a child by a registered sex offender, announced Acting United States Attorney Michael A. Bennett.

At his change of plea hearing, Byrd admitted that he made cell phone videos of himself molesting a 10-year-old victim.  Byrd then used a social media site to send these videos to another account.  At the time he committed these offenses, Byrd was a lifetime registered sex offender, having pleaded guilty in May 2012 to Rape 3rd Degree and Sodomy 3rd Degree with a 13-year-old victim. 

Byrd pleaded guilty without the benefit of a plea agreement and faces a statutory mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 35 years and up to 90 years’ imprisonment.  Byrd’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 7, 2021.    

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney A. Spencer McKiness. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with support from the Louisville Metro Police Department.

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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.