MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A Hialeah man was sentenced Thursday to 139 years in prison by U.S. District Court Chief Judge K. Michael Moore after having been convicted at trial of producing child pornography.
Patrick Killen Jr., 22, was convicted July 13 by a Miami jury of 15 federal charges. The charges included three counts of production of child pornography, two counts of distribution of child pornography, four counts of receipt of child pornography, four counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of transmission of interstate threats. Killen was acquitted of destruction of evidence.
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According to court records and trial testimony, Killen created fraudulent social media accounts, using assumed identities of teenage girls, and engaged teenage boys, generally between 11 and 14 years of age, in conversation.
Killen would beg, bribe and cajole the boys to send sexually explicit pictures. Hundreds of teenage boys replied with photographs and videos.
"The lengthy sentence handed down today sends a message to those who use the Internet to target and extort children through sexual exploitation (sextortion) and pornographic offenses," U.S. Attorney Ferrer said. "We implore the community to protect our children by being vigilant and reporting all suspected offenses to law enforcement."
Killen collected, cataloged and traded the materials with other individuals using peer-to-peer file sharing programs.
"The conduct of Patrick Killen Jr. is as appalling as it is inexcusable," George L. Piro, special agent in charge for the FBI in Miami, said. "Taking the identities of minor females online, Killen would persuade teenage boys to send him sexually explicit photographs of themselves, which Killen later used to extort these teenage boys. Known as sextortion, online predators use this type of behavior to produce child pornography and take advantage of children through terror and manipulation. The FBI and its Child Exploitation Task Force aggressively investigates allegations of sextortion and other online offenses against children."
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