Buncombe County Man Sentenced To 28 Years For Producing Child Pornography

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – On Thursday, January 24, 2019, U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Gabriel Allen Goss, 39, of Asheville, N.C., to 28 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for production of child pornography charges, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray.  Judge Reidinger also ordered Goss to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison.

John Eisert, Acting Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in the Carolinas and Sheriff Greg Christopher of the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office join U.S. Attorney Murray in making today’s announcement.

According to filed court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, on March 18, 2017, Goss, then a resident of Haywood County, used a cellular phone to produce at least three child pornography videos of a prepubescent minor female.  Court records show that on November 16, 2017, Goss engaged in a series of internet emails with another individual for the purpose of trading child pornography files.  In one email to the other individual, Goss attached a video file of the child pornography Goss had produced depicting the minor victim.

Goss is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.  Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. 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, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

In making today’s announcement U.S. Attorney Murray thanked the ICE/HSI and the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office for their investigation of the case.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville handled the prosecution.