Greenville Man Faces Federal Child Pornography Charges

Bowling Green – A federal grand jury in Bowling Green returned an indictment today charging a Greenville, Kentucky man with the possession, receipt, distribution, and production of child pornography.

According to court documents, Corey Stephens, 29, of Greenville, Kentucky, possessed, received, distributed, and produced child pornography.  According to a previously filed criminal complaint, on May 16, 2021, a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Special Agent acting in an undercover capacity encountered an individual on the KIK messenger application who posted an image of child pornography to a group.

HSI traced the message to Corey Stephens’s Greenville, Kentucky home, and HSI and Kentucky State Police executed a federal search warrant there on May 20, 2021. 

Stephens is charged with four counts:  possessing, receiving, distributing, and producing child pornography. If convicted at trial, Stephens faces not less than 15 years and not more than 90 years in prison for the crimes charged.  There is no parole in the federal system.  The case is next scheduled for arraignment on June 24, 2021, at 10 A.M. before U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Brent Brennenstuhl of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Harley R. Shuler of the Department of Homeland Security Investigations made the announcement.  

The Department of Homeland Security Investigations and the Kentucky State Police investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Madison Sewell, Branch Chief of the Bowling Green U.S. Attorney’s Office,  is prosecuting the case.

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

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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.