Former Louisville teacher pleads guilty to producing child pornography

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A former parochial high school teacher and assistant coach pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to violating child exploitation laws, announced U.S. Attorney John E. Kuhn Jr., Western District of Kentucky.

This guilty plea resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance from other state, local, and federal law enforcement entities in Kentucky, Indiana and Texas.

Patrick Newman, 33, of Louisville, was previously charged in a criminal complaint and then in a felony information. He pleaded guilty to 16 counts of producing child pornography, one count of enticing a minor online, one count of transporting child pornography, and one count of possessing child pornography.

The charges involved 16 victims, all boys, ranging in age from 12 to 17.  Three victims are from Kentucky, including at least one of whom Newman met in person.  According to information exchanged during their online communications, the remaining victims are from Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Colorado, North Carolina, New York, Utah, Oregon and the United Kingdom.

“These were unspeakable crimes, victimizing vulnerable and impressionable minors,” stated Kuhn. “Protecting our children will always be the highest priority of this office, and we will continue to prosecute those who exploit children to the fullest extent of the law." 

According to federal court documents, the investigation began earlier this year when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip from Twitter regarding the upload of child pornography materials to VINE (a video sharing website owned by Twitter) from the same Internet Protocol address in Texas between Dec. 28 and Dec. 30, 2014.  Law enforcement officials in Texas identified the child depicted in the images and later identified Newman as an adult who had been communicating with the child and obtaining sexually explicit images of the child.

HSI special agents executed a federal search warrant June 1 at Newman’s Louisville home and arrested him the same day.  During a recorded post-Miranda interview, Newman admitted having a sexual interest in boys between the ages of 13 and17. He also admitted to communicating with minors through social media tools/applications such as KIK, VINE, Snapchat and Topix for the past two years.

Forensic examination of Newman’s cellular telephone revealed electronic communications between him and many other individuals involving the sexual exploitation of minors. Based on representations during those communications, Newman solicited and obtained sexually explicit images from 16 boys under the age of 18.  He gave specific directions to some of the children as to what he wanted them to do, record and send him. He specifically asked for sadistic images involving a plunger from one of his victims. Newman met at least one 15-year-old boy in person on several occasions. The two engaged in sexual activity which Newman recorded with his cell phone.  He told other people, via social media, about his sexual activities with the boy and shared the videos with them. He also shared other images and videos of child pornography with people via social media. According to a review of his phone, he transported and distributed child pornography to 56 people, in addition to the 16 minors. Additionally, a review of Newman’s “Dropbox” account revealed that he possessed 87 videos depicting child pornography involving boys.

Newman has been in federal custody since his arrest.  He faces a mandatory minimum prison term of 15 years, to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release. The maximum potential penalties are life in prison, a $4.75 million fine, and up to and including a lifetime of supervised release. A sentencing hearing will be held Dec. 16 before U.S. District Judge David J. Hale.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jo E. Lawless, Western District of Kentucky, is prosecuting this case.

This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 12,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,300 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page. HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.