Kentucky man sentenced to 20 years in prison for distributing child pornography

COVINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky man was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography.

This sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Kerry B. Harvey, Eastern District of Kentucky, and James M. Gibbons, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Chicago.

Paul Morris, 40, of Dayton, Kentucky, was sentenced Aug. 3 by U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar to 20 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography, to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Under federal law, Davis must serve at least 85 percent of his federal prison sentence.

At his guilty plea in March, Morris admitted that he uploaded videos and images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct to an online messaging application in July 2015.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elaine K. Leonhard, Eastern District of Kentucky, prosecuted 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 14,000 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 2015, nearly 2,400 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.