Federal Grand Jury Indicts Hopkins County Man on Multiple Counts of Sexually Exploiting Children

Bowling Green, KY – A federal grand jury in Bowling Green returned a five-count indictment today charging a Hopkins County man with producing and possessing child pornography.   

U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky and Special Agent in Charge Jerry C. Templet, Jr. of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations made the announcement.

According to the indictment, Steven Ray Buchanan, 45, of Madisonville, Kentucky, was charged with four counts of production of child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. 

The defendant will make an initial court appearance on a later date before a U. S. Magistrate Judge of the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in Owensboro. Buchanan faces a minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of 140 years in prison. If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. There is no parole in the federal system.   

This case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Joel King and A. Spencer McKiness.

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 www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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